ML - Vegas Magazine

2013 - Issue 4 - Summer

Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.

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C hrissy Teigen glances nonchalantly at the monitor displaying images of her without critiquing a single detail, making her perhaps the most self-confident model in the business. She is between setups for her Vegas magazine shoot, and after quietly checking out the photographer's handiwork, she quickly turns her focus to something far more important. "There are still gummy bears left, right?" she asks with a laugh, followed by a warning to no one in particular: "They better not all be gone!" The vivacious model, blogger, and now TV host is at her most animated when talking about food… any kind of food. She has tweeted her love for Taco Bell and McDonald's, and on her food blog, SoDelushious.com, she offers a sophisticated take on topics such as "The Perfect Scallop" and dishes like her Thai-born mother's Jok Moo. Before the modeling world discovered her, Teigen, 27, dreamed of going to culinary school. So she will never be the super-skinny mannequin who pushes her food around the plate. Eating, she says, is one of life's greatest pleasures. "I will eat anything, and I'm actually more interested in eating than cooking," she adds with a laugh. "I love to cook, but when you're cooking for a big group of people, you're always worried about how it's going. I don't end up eating a lot by the time it's all done. But eating a great meal at a great restaurant? That is it for me. There's nothing I love more." While shooting VH1's Model Employee for four weeks at Mandalay Bay last summer, Teigen was able to turn her eye (and stomach) on Vegas's cuisine, and she is effusive about her love for the chef favorites Hot N Juicy Crawfish and Lotus of Siam. "It's one of the best Thai restaurants anywhere," she says, and she can be quite picky. "I will actually plan vacations around how good the restaurants are. 'Wait, this hotel is amazing but the restaurant isn't so great? Forget it, I'll go someplace else.'" Her voracious appetite is positively mystifying, considering that Teigen first found fame as a swimsuit model, going on to become a fixture of recent Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues and even creating her own swimwear collection. And although she is 5-foot-9 and a size two, she admits it takes hard work and lots of Physique 57 classes to stay that way. "My dad is this big Norwegian-American guy, and I'm built more like him," Teigen says. "I can't eat whatever I want all the time, but I don't deny myself either. I'll have a great meal and then say to myself that I can't eat like that tomorrow. I eat pretty normally unless I'm getting ready for a bathing suit photo shoot, and I've been getting into juices for that—things like kale and apple, not those disgusting cleanses with the cayenne and the maple syrup. I did that once and was staring at a cracker, and then I finally ate it and felt terrible about it! That's no way to live." Teigen is remarkably open and uncensored and has thus become something of a social-media darling, documenting her glamorous career and equally glamorous personal life as the fiancée of singer John Legend with often hysterical, self-effacing tweets. Recent hits include: "I love it when I order in and they send six forks. And by love it I mean sob uncontrollably" and "I can't believe none of you have made fun of me for doing an Ed Hardy ad. Like that is how amazed I am, I just called myself out on it." Nothing appears to be off-limits—she even used Twitter to defend her love against cheating gossip. And she has no qualms about offering her political and social opinions—or calling out followers who disagree with her. "I'm learning to see other people's point of view," she says, "but I'm also very passionate about the things I believe in." And while Teigen relishes the notion that she can influence opinion, she also admits that online criticism can sting. "I learned a long time ago not to Google myself," she says. "But I read all the comments on my blog. I don't really care if people say they don't like the way I look or something like that. But if they say who do I think I am offering cooking advice or offering political opinions, then it can really hurt." But not enough to rein her in. Teigen found herself in a bit of hot water last March when she posted on Instagram (and quickly removed) a photo of herself getting a spray tan in the nude. "It was embarrassing," she says with a burst of giggles. "My mother took that picture, and I didn't realize it would be such a big deal. I got 13,000 more followers right away after that! I think they thought, Oh yeah, I am going to follow this chick, but then found they were signing on to something else entirely. Now they get dog photos." While her Instagram feed is a hit, she says it's Twitter and blogging that have allowed her extroverted personality to shine: "Thank God Twitter wasn't around when I was in high school or I would have never graduated. I love it." Teigen, who is constantly laughing or cracking a joke, learned to be at ease in any social situation out of necessity. Born in tiny Delta, Utah, she was always the new kid in school as the family moved to accommodate her father's job as an electrician. After stays in Washington state, Idaho, and Hawaii, the family landed in Huntington Beach, California. "I couldn't believe how hot the girls all were," Teigen says. She also never believed she was one of them. A photographer discovered her at a surf shop where she was working, but it took a long time for her to believe she had what it took to make a living in front of the camera. "Modeling had never crossed my mind," she says. "For someone as insecure as I was, it didn't seem possible." But her stunning looks and bikini-ready body camouflaged the self-doubt, and her career as a model was born. She might have gotten stuck in the small time if friend and fellow model Brooklyn Decker hadn't introduced her to the team at Sports Illustrated. "That changed everything for me," Teigen says. Ad campaigns and "Chrissy is outspoken in the best way."—Eric Ripert 84 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 082-087_V_Feat_Cover_Sum13.indd 84 6/19/13 11:38 AM

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