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Chrissy Teigen, 40, shared news of her recent relapse with drinking, untangling her complicated journey back to sobriety in a vulnerable Instagram post.
The two-time Sports Illustrated cover model wrote on Instagram that, while she is now “52 days sober again with no desire to turn back,” reaching this milestone came with considerable effort and stress.
“After being sober for a little over a year, I went back to drinking,” her caption reads.
“I promised myself it would be in a ‘mindful’ way,” wrote Teigen, who built a sizable following on social media through her blunt humor and candid snapshots of her daily life. “I wanted to be able to have a glass of wine on a date night with my husband.”
Teigen married EGOT-winning musician John Legend, 47, in 2013. The couple has four children, including daughters Luna, 9, and Esti, 3, and sons Miles, 7, and Wren, 2.
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend at the 2024 Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles, California.
Taylor Hill/Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
Teigen’s caption continued, “To be able to toast on birthdays. How lucky I am to have the life I have—I want to enjoy it! And I think that was my first problem. Tying drinking to reward or like some sort of life prize.“
The model’s approach to drinking rapidly went from jubilant to unsustainable.
“Soon it became the kind of drinking I’m all too familiar with,” she wrote. “Quiet moments at home were for wine. The time went from 6 pm, to 5, to 4, to aw hell, it’s lunch, why not. When it got to 11 am, I was like, oh f—, here we go again.”
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend with son Miles and daughter Luna at the red carpet ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Matthew Stockman/Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
“And I know. I’m a whole a– mom,” she added. “We aren’t talking the kind of drinking where you slur your words and miss a step on the stairs. It was just quiet and consistent. And god, I felt like s–t…But it wasn’t messy enough yet to stop.”
In the post, Teigen posed with Carl Radke of Summerhouse fame and thanked him for being open about his sobriety journey on her podcast, Self-Conscious with Chrissy Teigen.
“I am grateful to @carlradke,” she wrote, later adding, “Within the same week of talking to Carl, I stopped drinking again.” One of the screenshots included in her post features a quote from Radke’s podcast interview.
“I would recommend the 12 steps for anybody, regardless if you’re struggling with alcohol,” he said, referring to the famous 12-step recovery path that originated with Alcoholics Anonymous but has since been adopted in many other programs. “There’s just a good moral fabric that any human can benefit from.”
Carl Radke appeared on Teigen’s podcast, where he spoke about sobriety.
Radke is a guest on an upcoming episode of Obsessed: The Podcast, where he will tell us all about his conversation with Teigen—among many other things—so be sure to subscribe.
This is not Teigen’s first time getting sober, as she mentioned in her caption.
“I think the biggest difference between now and the first time is that there’s no pomp around it. The first time I put my foot down, it was EXCITING,” wrote Teigen, who announced her first run at sobriety via Instagram five years ago on a video of herself dancing.
She continued, “The second time…I dunno if everyone around you kind of loses faith or if you do yourself, or a mix of both. Or maybe no one wants to get too excited.“
Like many celebrities and influencers, Teigen has partnered with alcohol brands in the past, including hosting a “Cocktails with Chrissy” event with Smirnoff in 2017.
Dave Kotinsky/Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for SMIRNOFF
Ultimately, she found her way back on track. “I’m 52 days sober again with no desire to turn back,” she wrote. “Turns out, without it, I can still be funny. Still be stupid. Still be wildly nervous. Anxious as a motherf—er. And I can get through it all without it.”
She ended the post thanking her fans for listening to the episode, writing, “Enjoy our talk, because it changed my life. No big deal.”
