Why Chrissy Teigen Says She Brought Up the Khloé Kardashian Bikini-Pic Drama in Therapy

The internet can pick a person apart, which no one knows better than Chrissy Teigen. That’s why she was so affected by that Khloé Kardashian unedited-bikini-pic controversy. (For a complete breakdown, click here.) Kardashian’s response—posting curated unedited images of herself with a lengthy statement about her body-image journey—sparked a wide-ranging debate online. On the one hand, this was about a woman’s right to privacy and the right to have a say over how and when her body is viewed. On the other hand, many pointed out the entire Kardashian-Jenner family has benefited, culturally and financially, from a certain standard of beauty. 

Teigen was asked about the story on Watch What Happens Live, and her thoughts are mixed: “I look at Khloé, and I’m like, ‘Of course, you’re so beautiful. You’re so strong,’” the model and cookbook author said. “The change that she’s made to her body, she’s so proud of, and everybody is so proud of, and you want someone to be like, ‘Fuck yeah, this is my body,’ in any light.” But since that isn’t how Kardashian felt, says Teigen, it was okay for her to take the photo down: “If she didn’t want that photo to be out, she didn’t want that photo to be out, and that’s fine too.”

“I think there can be two truths,” she continued, injecting some nuance into a conversation that sorely needs it. “I think the internet often forgets there’s two truths in things. They can’t possibly believe that someone would not want this photo out, but also be proud of that photo.”

Teigen added, “I actually ended up talking about it in therapy, oddly enough, because of my own body insecurity issues and what celebrities have done to people in distorting their image of what a real human body looks like.” 

Though Chrissy Teigen says she wouldn’t have made the same decision Khloé Kardashian made, and would have instead embraced the opportunity to show her body in a different light, body image is something she does struggle with. “It’s something I try to work through every day, and it’s the industry I’ve been in for so long,” she said. “All you can do is hope for other people to not have to go through this.”