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Tags: chrissy teigen | alcohol | drinking

Chrissy Teigen Admits She Was a 'Functioning Alcoholic'

chrissy teigen stands on red carpet
In this image released on May 2, Chrissy Teigen attends Global Citizen VAX LIVE: The Concert To Reunite The World at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Global Citizen VAX LIVE)

By    |   Monday, 23 August 2021 11:41 AM EDT

Chrissy Teigen has revealed that she was "basically a functioning alcoholic" while living in New York City with her husband John Legend. 

The model and cookbook author made the admission on Instagram, months after sharing that she had quit drinking, while recounting what life was like living in the Big Apple several years ago. The post featured a throwback photo of Teigen and Legend dining out at Frank Restaurant in Manhattan. In the image's caption, Teigen recalled how she would sit at the kitchen bar alone, reading magazines.

"I’d sit there with my multiple double vodka sodas and get day drunk by myself (this is not a brag lol I was basically a functioning alcoholic) then buy hats I didn’t like or need at urban outfitters," she explained. 

Teigen has spoken before about her drinking habits, and her decision to get sober. In 2017, she told Cosmopolitan that there was a history of alcohol abuse in her family and said she was cutting back on alcohol because she is the type of person who "can't just have one drink." At one point, she was "drinking too much" and needed to re-evaluate her habits.

"I got used to being in hair and makeup and having a glass of wine. Then that glass of wine would carry over into me having one before the awards show," Teigen told the outlet. "And then a bunch at the awards show. And then I felt bad for making kind of an a-- of myself to people that I really respected. And that feeling, there's just nothing like that. You feel horrible. It's not a good look for me, for John, for anybody."

Towards the end of last year, Teigen told fans that she had made the decision to quit drinking, later opening up about how her pregnancy loss led her to the path of sobriety.

"It was a really transformative thing for me and in a way it really saved me, because I don't think that I would've discovered therapy and then sobriety and this path of feeling good about myself and feeling like a new person," Teigen told Ellen DeGeneres, via People.

Teigen, who shares two children with Legend, lost her unborn baby, Jack, in October 2020. She has spoken on numerous occasions about the pain caused by the loss, and in her latest Instagram post signaled that she had been using alcohol as a coping mechanism. 

"I don’t really feel like I fully processed jack and now that I don’t have the alcohol to numb it away, things are just…there, waiting to be acknowledged," she wrote. "I guess what I’m saying here is life is so f---ing complicated. 

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Zoe Papadakis

Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


TheWire
Chrissy Teigen has revealed that she was "basically a functioning alcoholic" while living in New York City with her husband John Legend. The model and cookbook author made the admission...
chrissy teigen, alcohol, drinking
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2021-41-23
Monday, 23 August 2021 11:41 AM
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