Normally we love when Chrissy Teigen overshares on the internet, but this time it was a bit of a bumpy ride, shall we say.
The Cravings author has been remarkably open about how she’s coping with the loss of her baby, Jack. She’s shared with her followers both the good days and bad days, which has undoubtedly made a positive impact on those who have dealt with similar grief in their own lives.
Related: Chrissy Teigen Got A Sexy New Tattoo For John Legend!
On Saturday, John Legend’s wife posted about her latest hobby — horseback riding — explicitly connecting it to her continued struggle with grief. Alongside a photo of a horse, she wrote on Twitter:
“My therapist says I need something that I do just for me, as I have absolutely nothing currently lol. Today begins my journey into the horse world. I hope this dude likes me he’s so handsome and appears lazy, I love”
My therapist says I need something that I do for just me, as I have absolutely nothing currently lol. Today begins my journey into the horse world. I hope this dude likes me ???? he’s so handsome and appears lazy, I love pic.twitter.com/1Ytejb4L6J
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) January 16, 2021
In typical Chrissy fashion, the Lip Sync Battle star followed up the announcement with some more clips revealing her misadventures with horseback riding, starting with a battle between herself and some riding boots. Amusingly, she sourced tips from fans about how to break in the tight-fitting footwear.
holy shit. horse people: the boots! i always thought breaking in boots meant the foot part but does it mean the calf part because I’m dying over here pic.twitter.com/EnRWEMPBgC
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) January 16, 2021
Will try your hairdryer trick next!! pic.twitter.com/bYgF4S1qgj
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) January 16, 2021
Unsurprisingly, the social media maven looked amazing in her gear — but some users took issue with her original tweet, and it all came back to a common theme for celebs theses days: privilege.
One commenter replied:
“A lot of people are unemployed and struggling to feed their family in the midst of a pandemic. Maybe now isn’t a great time to say you ‘have nothing’ so you bought a horse to entertain yourself.”
Chrissy defended:
“a lot of u really misinterpreted this tweet and I guess that’s on me. I didn’t say I have nothing, I said I have nothing I do for just me. A convo with a therapist. A hobby. Cause I lost a baby. And I’m figuring myself out. And i didn’t buy a horse. But oh my god, what if I did?”
Allow us to play both sides here for a second. Of course, the advice from the 35-year-old’s therapist makes perfect sense, and exploring new hobbies and passions — and even sharing those things on social media — is a totally reasonable way to deal with grief.
That being said, the tweet is still a bit tone deaf. Plenty of people suffering a loss similar to Chrissy don’t even have the option of seeing a therapist right now, let alone the luxury of taking up a fairly expensive hobby like horseback riding. (And those things are sadly true even without a pandemic making everything more difficult.) Not to mention, how Los Angeles is suffering from a grave COVID-19 crisis.
Remove the bit about “having nothing” from the tweet, and it becomes a pretty inoffensive statement. Better yet, don’t tweet about it at all, and she can keep the hobby as something that really is “just for her,” and not open to the criticism of her many followers.
Related: Chrissy Reveals She’ll ‘Never’ Be Pregnant Again
Speaking of, another (more supportive) user pointed out:
“I think it’s great – but today you had the whole fam there with you. It was meant to be something just for you! Don’t forget it! “
The momma replied:
“lol I know. We talked about that today too. I was like ‘whoops, of course’ haha”
While we agree that Chrissy should focus on herself, we definitely appreciate the adorable clips of her son Miles on his first horseback ride!
As always, we wish the best for Chrissy and continue to keep her in our thoughts as she works through an incredibly painful and traumatic experience. But she’s far from the only celeb who’s been called out for needing to check their privilege lately, and it can’t hurt to think twice before tweeting something that comes across as tone deaf and insensitive during these particularly difficult times.
[Image via Chrissy Teigen/Instagram/Twitter]