Food columnist Alison Roman has apologized — again — to model-turned-cookbook author Chrissy Teigen and organization guru Marie Kondo for her critical comments about both women which kicked off a firestorm of controversy on Twitter over the weekend.
The drama began after a recent interview Roman gave to The New Consumer in which she referred to Teigen's cooking-themed website, Cravings by Chrissy Teigen, as a "content farm," which "horrifies" her.
"Like, what Chrissy Teigen has done is so crazy to me," Roman, 34, said in the interview. "She had a successful cookbook. And then it was like: Boom, line at Target. Boom, now she has an Instagram page that has over a million followers where it’s just, like, people running a content farm for her. That horrifies me and it’s not something that I ever want to do. I don’t aspire to that. But like, who’s laughing now? Because she’s making a ton of (expletive) money."
Teigen, also 34, responded to the interview by tweeting out a message on Friday saying she was hit hard by Roman's swipe.
"this is a huge bummer and hit me hard," Teigen posted. "I have made her recipes for years now, bought the cookbooks, supported her on social and praised her in interviews. I even signed on to executive produce the very show she talks about doing in this article."
Many of Teigen's followers replied to her with messages of support.
"Your trajectory isn't remotely as quick as she makes it out to be. Don't stress, Chrissy," commented one follower.
"Your products are quality, so is your vibe. Be you everyday, that’s why we show up for you!" wrote another.
And although Teigen was buoyed by the kind words of her followers, she still felt the need to defend her work, saying that she started Cravings so she could have something that was truly her own, apart from the success of her multi award-winning husband, John Legend.
Legend also tweeted his support, writing, "I love what you are building. I love that it comes straight from your heart and your brilliant, creative mind. I'm so proud of you"
The model and mom of two went on to say that she was "so bummed out by the words of a fellow food-lover" and that she "had no idea I was perceived that way, especially by her."
She also defended Marie Kondo who Roman, a New York Times food columnist, called a sellout for her decision to lend her name to a product line.
Cherry Bombe magazine, which showcases women in the food industry (and has had both Teigen and Roman as cover stars), shared a statement on Instagram.
"Women calling other women sell-outs and bitches for their hard-earned accomplishments is not acceptable. White women calling women of color sell-outs and bitches for their hard-earned accomplishments is not acceptable.
"There’s no excuse in 2020 for not knowing better, especially when you’re a gatekeeper or celebrated individual in the food world. Those in a privileged position need to check their privilege and humility on a regular basis," the post continued.
On Friday, Roman took to Twitter to explain the context of her comments.
"I want to clarify, I am not coming for anyone who's successful, especially not women. I was trying to clarify that my business model does not include a product line, which work very well for some, but I don't see working for me," she wrote.
Roman posted again late Friday, this time to issue Teigen an apology, saying she had also sent the star an email. She called her comments "flippant" and "careless."
"Hi @chrissyteigen!" Roman posted. "I sent an email but also wanted to say here that I’m genuinely sorry I caused you pain with what I said. I shouldn’t have used you /your business (or Marie’s!) as an example to show what I wanted for my own career- it was flippant, careless and I’m so sorry," wrote the "Nothing Fancy" author.
Roman went on to say that it's not her "thing" to take down other women and thinks if they ever had the chance to meet, she and Teigen would hit it off.
In the statement from Cherry Bombe, the magazine also said, "If you’re not using your platform today to lift others, you don’t deserve the platform. We were disappointed yesterday to read Alison Roman’s comments about Chrissy Teigen, Marie Kondo, and content creators. Alison has been a good friend to Cherry Bombe, as has Chrissy, and we have celebrated both of their accomplishments on our covers and beyond. We hope Alison takes the time to understand why her comments were offensive to so many and issue genuine apologies to both women."
In the meantime, Teigen had her own solution to the situation.
"anyhow. now that that's out there, I guess we should probably unfollow each other @alisoneroman," wrote the star.
On Monday, Roman issued another lengthy apology to both Teigen and Kondo on Twitter.
“I need to formally apologize to Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo,” she wrote. “I used their names disparagingly to try and distinguish myself, which I absolutely do not have an excuse for. It was stupid, careless and insensitive. I need to learn, and respect, the difference between being unfiltered and honest vs. uneducated and flippant. The burden is not on them (or anyone else) to teach me, and I’m deeply sorry that my learning came at Marie’s expense. They’ve worked extremely hard to get to where they are and both deserve better than my tone deaf remarks.”
She also apologized for attacking two women of color, something she had received a lot of criticism for on Twitter.
“The fact that it didn’t occur to me that I had singled out two Asian women is one hundred percent a function of my privilege (being blind to racial insensitivities is a discriminatory luxury),” Roman wrote. “I know that our culture frequently goes after women, especially women of color, and I’m ashamed to have contributed to that. I want to lift up and support women of color, my actions indicated the opposite.”
Soon after Roman shared her apology message on Twitter, Teigen responded with a series of tweets.
“thank u for this, @alisoneroman. To be clear, it never once crossed my mind for u to apologize for what you genuinely thought!” she wrote. “The comments stung, but they more so stung because they came from u! It wasn’t my usual news break of some random person hating everything about me!”
She added later in her Twitter thread that she still thinks Roman is “incredibly talented.”
“And in an industry that doesn’t really lend itself to supporting more than a handful of people at a time, I feel like all we have are each other!” she wrote, adding, “And honestly, for the past few days, every time I saw a shallot I wanted to cry, but I do appreciate this and hopefully we can all be better and learn from the dumb (stuff) we have all said and done.”
This story has been updated to include Alison Roman's second apology and Chrissy Teigen's response.