John Legend is standing up for his wife Chrissy Teigen after she faced accusations from fashion designer Michael Costello who went to Instagram last week to say that he was bullied by the model years ago, causing him to become suicidal.

Responding to a tweet from reporter Taylor Lorenz, Legend said Teigen apologized for hurtful comments she made publicly, but she never sent insensitive directive messages.

"Chrissy apologized for her public tweets, but after her apology, Mr Costello fabricated a DM exchange between them. This exchange was made up, completely fake, never happened," Legend said on Twitter Friday.

Chrissy apologized for her public tweets, but after her apology, Mr Costello fabricated a DM exchange between them. This exchange was made up, completely fake, never happened. Receipts below: https://t.co/Toh2rjTXNS

— John Legend (@johnlegend) June 18, 2021

The drama erupted last week after Teigen wrote a Medium post in which she acknowledged that she hurt many people when she first started using social media.

"I was insecure, immature and in a world where I thought I needed to impress strangers to be accepted," the 35-year-old wrote. "If there was a pop culture pile-on, I took to Twitter to try to gain attention and show off what I at the time believed was a crude, clever, harmless quip. I thought it made me cool and relatable if I poked fun at celebrities."

Costello later went to Instagram and pointed to an incident from 2014, Page Six reported. In the social media post, which is now deleted, the designer said his reputation was ruined by a "photoshopped comment floating around the internet which has now been proven to be false by Instagram and since taken down.”

Costello said the fake image made it appear as if he used a racial slur. The 38-year-old said Teigen then “told me that my career was over and that all my doors will be shut from there on.”

The designer posted screengrabs allegedly showing a direct message thread with Teigen in which she said, “Racist people like you deserve to suffer and die. You might as well be dead. Your career is over, just watch.”

“I didn’t see the point of living,” Costello wrote on Instagram. “There was no way I can ever escape from being the target of the powerful elites in Hollywood. I am not okay. I may never be okay, but today, I am choosing to speak my truth.”

According to Business Insider, inconsistencies were noted in Costello's DM screenshots. The Insider report states that Teigen's account in the screenshot was missing a verified checkmark and it featured blue and purple messages, a design implemented in the last year.

In a statement to People Costello's team said Teigen is "desperately trying to prove the DMs are fake."

"Beyond the DMs and the public comments Chrissy Teigen left on Michael Costello's Instagram for the world to see, there are emails and documents unreleased to the public which confirms Chrissy Teigen has gone beyond social media to blacklist Michael Costello offline, making him endure over seven years of suffering – mentally and financially," the fashion designer's team stated.

Legend continued to assert that the allegations about the messages are false.

"Honestly I don't know why anyone would fake DMs to insert themselves in this narrative, but that's what happened," the artist tweeted. "I encourage everyone who breathlessly spread this lie to keep that same energy when they correct the record."

Michael Costello

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week