It’s the parenting moments when everything feels out of control that Chrissy Teigen loves.
“It’s kind of crazy, I thrive off chaos. But I also grew up in a family with not a lot of little kids, so I’m very new to the little kid world. My daughter was kind of the first little kid I really interacted with," Teigen, 36, said during a “Chaos of Parenthood” panel and dinner in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
The pregnant, best-selling cookbook author shares 6-year-old daughter Luna and 4-year-old son Miles with husband singer John Legend. The couple, who experienced pregnancy loss in September 2020, announced in August that they are expecting another baby.
“I’m kind of the youngest in my entire family, while John has so many nephews and he’s surrounded by so many wonderful children around him at all times,” she continued. “So everything was kind of very new to me from the very beginning. And I just was so shocked that I could handle the stress of it really well.”
However, she did recall one of her first “Oh, s--t” moments when Luna was younger. Teigen, though, remained calm.
Teigen recalled buying a knife set, having it arrive early in the morning and placing it on the countertop.
“We had a nanny that was making the bottle and holding Luna at the same time, I was right behind her making breakfast and I just heard a scream, you know the scream was so different from like the normal screams,” she said. “And Luna was so teeny tiny. She had kicked a knife out of the knife block and it went straight up and straight down (and) in back into his little knife block hole. It was kind of fascinating and just I looked over at the fridge and it was covered in blood.”
She added that Luna was “freaking out” and the nanny felt “so terrible” about letting it happen on her watch but Teigen stayed calm. After all, she said, it “could happen to anybody, these things just happen.”
“And for some reason, and I think it’s probably from my upbringing of having a bit of a chaotic childhood and a chaotic family and a chaotic home, that I just really can buckle down and really know what the heck to do.”
Her approach to handling accidents is taking care of the people and letting them know it’s going to be OK.
“But for the most part ... I love the general chaos of every day,” she said. “But when it’s like an actual accident, I’m like, ‘OK, this is when it gets crazy.’ But I love being able to see how I react in those moments because that is only from my upbringing. And as crazy as it was growing up, it actually served me along the way.”
That attitude helped her recently when Miles required some medical help. Earlier that day, Teigen shared a photo on her Instagram Story of her son with stitches on his forehead.
“The first big accident we had, I don’t know if you guys saw that Miles actually went to a plastic surgeon this morning for his first stitches,” Teigen said during the event, not elaborating on what caused it. “And that stuff I was expecting. That kind of stuff is very easy, but what I didn’t expect was how well I can handle the stress of things like that happening.”
“I think when people freak out, I tend to really calm the situation,” she added.
Teigen will soon welcome another child into her and Legend’s household. The former model shared that she has “no plan for a few months from now” when she gives birth.
I think when people freak out, I tend to really calm the situation.
“I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I don’t know if it’s going to be different from the other two or if it’s just an addition. I don’t really know what I’m doing, ever,” she said. “But I do know that for some reason that has worked for me. And I know that our kids are genuinely kind, empathetic people that are warm and funny, like genuinely funny.”
And while she said Miles and Luna “have their moments” because they’re kids — “they’re competitive and they fight” — she added that she loves what she and Legend have done together with their family.
The couple met in 2006 on the set of his music video for “Stereo,” and kept in touch over the years. They got married in 2013.
“To see this different side of your partner and to see how they raise kids, I’m proud of the fact that I picked the right partner and for some reason, and I don’t know why, but the two of us together have really nailed the kid thing,” she said. “We genuinely have a good time with it. It’s really fun. We like spending time with them. John will still take the kids to school every single morning that he can, which is usually like, at least, it’s four to five times.”
Teigen said that it’s pretty incredible that while they had no plans to be parents when they first started dating, “It just worked out.”
“And for me, a lot of things in my life had been more of a struggle and a battle. And the fact that this all came together, and the kid thing worked out, makes me wonder about this one,” she said referring to her unborn child, jokingly saying, “Because I’m like, it’s been so great that this one has to be crazy. I don’t know. That’s the way my mind goes. But for me, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, the most normal thing I’ve ever done, and the thing that I know I’ve done right. The only thing.”
The panel Teigen spoke at was with baby nutrition company ByHeart’s founders, Mia Funt and Ron Belldegrun. Also a part of the intimate dinner was actor Jerry O’Connell and track and field Olympian Allyson Felix who shared their parenting stories. The event kicked off ByHeart’s second annual Feed Fest Summit, hosted virtually by Andy Cohen on Nov. 11, which aims to give parents accessible information about feeding choices.
Teigen has been an open book when it comes to her pregnancy loss and journey. After losing her third child, whom she had named Jack, she penned a personal essay detailing her experience.
Then after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, Teigen shared that what she considered to be a miscarriage was actually an abortion.
When expressing her heartbreak for people who would be impacted by the Supreme Court's decision, she realized that it could have affected her.
“Two years ago, when I was pregnant with Jack, John and my third child, I had to make a lot of difficult and heartbreaking decisions. It became very clear around halfway through that he would not survive, and that I wouldn’t either without any medical intervention,” she said at an event in September, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter at the time. “Let’s just call it what it was: It was an abortion. An abortion to save my life for a baby that had absolutely no chance. And to be honest, I never, ever put that together until, actually, a few months ago.”
Related: Chrissy Teigen sets the record straight: ‘I had an abortion’
Legend, meanwhile, has been a supportive husband and is excited about expanding their family.
“Oh, we’re excited and it’s always a bit of cautious optimism, especially when you lost one before,” the singer told Willie Geist on “Sunday Sitdown” in September. “But we really feel excited, our kids are excited too and it feels like we learned so much over the years, through struggle and through the challenges that we faced.”
“I think we’ve both grown so much and we’re ready,” he continued. “We’re ready for a new baby in our lives.”
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