Chrissy Teigen Exits Netflix Series Amid Ongoing ‘Bullying’ Controversy

Chrissy Teigen reportedly dropped out of the second season of the Netflix series after revealing that she published tweets bullying reality TV star Courtney Stodden. Teigen was set to star in an episode of Never Have I Ever, the coming of age comedy created by Mindy Kaling. Last month, Stodden opened up about the cruel tweets Teigen sent to her as direct messages after Stodden married actor Doug Hutchison. Teigen apologized and has since remained quiet on her social media platforms.

Never Have I Ever stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi, a 15-year-old high school student navigating her life after her father’s death. Most of the show’s first season was narrated by former tennis player John McEnroe, Devi’s idol, while Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Andy Samberg narrated one other episode. Season 2 will feature more celebrity guest narrators. Teigen was a member of this roster, but she chose to drop out. A spokesman for the show told Variety her role would be recast. Teigen has not commented.

Back on May 10, Stodden gave an in-depth interview with The Daily Beast after they came out as non-binary. In the interview, Stodden looked back at the bullying she faced during her marriage to Hutchison, who was 35 years older than Stodden when they married in 2011. Stodden revealed that even Teigen sent her horrible messages. “She wouldn’t just publicly tweet about wanting me to take ‘a dirt nap’ but would privately DM me and tell me to kill myself,” Stodden said. “Things like, ‘I can’t wait for you to die.’” Although Stodden did not have screenshots of the direct messages, screenshots of Teigen’s 2011-2012 tweets to Stodden have surfaced.

Teigen issued a lengthy apology on May 12. “Not a lot of people are lucky enough to be held accountable for all their past bulls— in front of the entire world,” Teigen wrote. “I’m mortified and sad at who I used to be. I was an insecure, attention-seeking troll.” She later said she was “ashamed and completely embarrassed” by the old tweets but noted that her own feelings are “nothing compared to how I made Courtney feel.”

In her statement, Teigen also claimed she reached out to Stodden to apologize. Although Stodden did accept Teigen’s apology, they said Teigen’s team did not reach out to her privately. “In fact, she blocked me on Twitter. All of me wants to believe this is a sincere apology, but it feels like a public attempt to save her partnerships with Target and other brands who are realizing her ‘wokeness’ is a broken record,” Stodden wrote.

Teigen was among the most-followed celebrities on social media, with over 34.9 million Instagram followers and 13.5 million Twitter followers before the scandal broke. She has not posted on Instagram since May 11, when she shared a Cravings recipe. She has not used Twitter since posting her apology to Stodden.