Chrissy Teigen, with her hair tousled, skin dewy and glowing, and voluptuous body clad in a bikini, could be the poster child for motherhood.
That’s her, oozing sharp, sexy confidence in the 2017 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue — shot six months after she gave birth to daughter Luna. At the start of the shoot, she says that she insisted on only wearing one-pieces. And then this happened:
Teigen is someone who defies easy categorization. She’s a lithe, gorgeous supermodel who has appeared in every Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue since 2010 — and who makes the meanest mac and cheese on this or any planet, from a recipe she shared in her bestselling Cravings cookbook. And in her everyday life, this mom usually goes au naturel, when she doesn’t have Jen Atkin doing her hair or Mary Phillips glamming her up or Monica Rose styling her.
“I don’t go anywhere. We have people over. We watch movies. Or eat dinner. They don’t wear a smidge of makeup. They don’t have to be put together. We’re gonna be very relaxed, and we’ll have fun, and no one will give a s***,” she tells Yahoo Style.
She’s equally chilled out about red carpet ensembles — including the white Zuhair Murad number she wore to the Oscars, which she described as being very tight. While others were riveted by the ceremony, Teigen tweeted that she’d fallen asleep.
just woke up what happened
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) February 27, 2017
“I take awards shows one at a time. My weight fluctuates a lot. I can go between 5 and 8 pounds in one or two days. I do the fitting the day before. Every single time. I’m very mood-based with style. If I fit something on a Thursday, I may not want that vibe by Sunday,” she says.
Despite her deftness with deadly one-liners on social media, the host of Lip Sync Battle isn’t the cutup you might expect, spewing out quips. She’s thoughtful and focused. And she’s the antithesis of someone who pretends to have it all.
“I really want people to know that so many things go into all these things,” she says, of how pulled-together she looks in public, whether in thigh-high boots for date night or the sheer cut-out Roberto Cavalli gown she wore to the Grammys.
Teigen gets asked all time, how she does it all. Guess what? She doesn’t.
“Having help. My mom lives with us. I have hair and makeup people. I’m not getting up and doing all this by myself. If I’m not being done for something, I’m not going anywhere. A lot of hands go into it. We have help. It’s important for people to know that,” she says. “I have the utmost respect for mothers and single mothers who go to work and come home and make dinner. I do all these things because I have help. Luna goes down at 6:30 and has a nurse watch her, and I can cook dinner.”
Teigen’s perfect day consists of waking up with Luna, singing silly songs to her about poop, trying out recipes for her forthcoming cookbook (a work in progress), and doing little else.
“These days, less is more. I feel like it’s different for everyone. Some people love getting glammed up. I hate it. I hate sitting in that chair. It’s painful to me. If I could choose my day, it would be waking up and putting on a face mask and making my skin clean and spending time with my daughter. There’s not much else I care to do,” she says.
Well, aside from vocalize on social media. Teigen is not a shrinking violet, and her Twitter feed is a cornucopia of hilarity and brutal honesty, ranging from social commentary to cute videos of her family to thoughts on the presidency. She shared the story of how long she struggled to get pregnant with Luna; she and Legend used in vitro fertilization.
the women in toothpaste commercials are scary obsessed with pleasing men with teeth whiteness
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) February 22, 2017
Captain's log: 21 days in. Our leader has somehow lost it & is losing it at the same time. I have patiently waited for this moment. Send hel https://t.co/OKdM9RIwwe
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) February 10, 2017
Teigen responds to many posts but says she’s judicious and selective. “I have a lot of engagement. People talk a lot to me. There are so many new notifications. But I have more followers on Instagram, so I feel like they’d rather see pictures of me than hear me speak. I respond when something sticks out, when it’s not malicious,” she says.
Since this is coming up again, I said our next baby would be a boy because that is the embryo we have left. A boy. So. Yeah.
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) January 30, 2017
She’s deft at shutting down trolls, especially those who slam her reproductive choices. “Hopefully it works. We’ll see. Either way, we’re going to try for another kid,” she says.
Teigen laments about how boring her days are, but you get the sense that she’s a total homebody. She loves watching Luna sleep. She cooks dinner most nights, while watching “a little Real Housewives — there’s always a marathon on. Then I serve dinner at around 10 p.m., which is very late. I pretty much cook every night. We have friends come over. Jen Atkin’s husband comes over and watches Black Mirror with John.”
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