Last night, around a month after Chrissy Teigen apologised for troll tweets she sent to Courtney Stodden and seemed to quit social media, the model returned with a Medium post.
But, while Chrissy apologised and admitted to being 'a troll', amongst many other things, it's perhaps disappointing to see (like other celebrities and politicians before her) Chrissy not give us some more openness around why she felt she could talk to people in that way. Yet again, we're left in the dark, wondering, 'Why would someone do and say that?'
In the middle of May, Chrissy was forced to apologise after Courtney Stodden told The Daily Beastthat she had sent them abusive messages on Twitter - publicly and DM'ing her. Stodden alleges Teigen would privately message her telling her to end her own life. 'She wouldn't just publicly tweet about wanting me to take a dirt nap,' Stodden claimed. 'But would privately DM me and tell me to kill myself .'
Now, after a social media break, Teigen has returned with a Medium apology about some of her now-deleted tweets, apologising to 'my targets', 'some who were still girls'.
Designer Michael Costello has now claimed that comments made by Teigen left him suicidal even recently.
And now Lindsay Lohan's mother, Dina has commented on a Teigen deleted Tweet from 2011 where she said: 'Lindsay adds a few more slits to her wrists when she sees emma stone'. Dina The Post: 'When someone says hurtful words, they’re not just hurting that person, they’re hurting their siblings, their mother, their grandma. They’re inflicting so much pain.'
Many people have reacted favourably to Teigen's long and heartfelt post, in which she says: 'There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets. My targets didn’t deserve them. No one does. Many of them needed empathy, kindness, understanding and support, not my meanness masquerading as a kind of casual, edgy humor. I was a troll, full stop. And I am so sorry.'
Speaking of the ways she's changed since her tweets (most of which were 10 years ago) Teigen says: 'The truth is, I’m no longer the person who wrote those horrible things. I grew up, got therapy, got married, had kids, got more therapy, experienced loss and pain, got more therapy and experienced more life. AND GOT MORE THERAPY.'
Some have commented on the speed at which Teigen has come back to social media and whether her apology digs deep enough. But perhaps, as others have pointed out, it's most interesting to wonder why - if going to all this trouble and therapy - Chrissy couldn't be more open about her motivations for trolling people.
It's as much a disappointment in a curiosity way as anything. Trolls are such a massive issue online and in life that it seems a missed opportunity for a wider discussion on a public scale as to what motivates people to send horrible tweets and troll people.
Repeatedly when everyone from sports people to politicians are caught out by older tweets, the same reasons are rolled out time and again. I was young. I didn't know better. I've changed. I've had life experiences. I've had therapy.
This isn't about doubting someone's ability to change, learn or grow, but it all seems so... surface. And unsatisfying. Especially given the outcomes that celebrities like Stodden, Lohan and Costello are expressing.
For her part, in her apology, Teigen tries to explain: 'In reality, I was insecure, immature and in a world where I thought I needed to impress strangers to be accepted. 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.'
Granted, it gives a bit more than the 'I was young' line (she was around 25 at the time of the Courtney Stodden tweets) but it doesn't totally satisfy. If there's one thing Teigen always tells us she can be counted on for, it's openness and honesty, so the motivations here just don't seem to make the cut.
Perhaps that's because what explanation is there really that would be acceptable? Or is it that, as many have pointed out, Teigen's tweets went beyond that of 'trolling'? It's become a catch-all word that means everything from commenting on a Love Islander's bikini choice to telling someone you know their address to threatening lives.
Ultimately then, perhaps it's the catch-all that's unsatisfying and doesn't go far enough. And that once again the consequences of the online and offline worlds don't seem to match. Threats to kill in a court vs threats to kill online are still treated as very different things when it comes to acceptability and punishment, for instance.
So, we'll continue to have these conversations about what motivates someone to go there - it's a shame that of all the things Chrissy couldn't have given us some insight.
READ MORE: Why Did Chrissy Teigen Send Courtney Stodden So Much Twitter Abuse?