Chrissy Teigen has never shied away from telling the truth, even when that truth is uncomfortable, messy, or deeply personal.
This week, the 40-year-old model, cookbook author, and Star Search judge shared a candid update on Instagram, revealing that she is 52 days sober after experiencing a relapse last year. The post marked another chapter in Chrissy’s ongoing relationship with sobriety, one defined not by perfection, but by accountability and self-reflection.
Chrissy first quit drinking in 2021, a decision she publicly documented and discussed with honesty. In 2025, she later admitted that she had begun drinking again — a revelation that resonated with many who understand sobriety as a nonlinear process rather than a straight line.
In her recent Instagram post dated Tuesday (January 27), Chrissy explained that a combination of life moments, including conversations with a Bravo reality star, prompted her to reevaluate her habits and recommit to sobriety.
She was careful to clarify that her drinking hadn’t reached a destructive low point.
Chrissy noted in her open letter that she wasn’t at the “slur your words” point of drinking, but she realized that she shouldn’t be drinking while working on Star Search and being a mom at the same time.
That realization, she shared, felt like a quiet but undeniable line in the sand.
As a mother of four, Chrissy has often spoken about the mental and emotional recalibration that comes with parenting especially under the microscope of fame. Her decision to speak openly about relapse challenges the stigma that sobriety must be all-or-nothing, offering instead a more compassionate, realistic narrative.
Rather than framing her relapse as a failure, Chrissy presented it as information, a moment that taught her what no longer serves her.
Her post also highlighted the importance of community and accountability, noting that seeing someone else speak candidly about their own relationship with alcohol helped her recognize patterns in herself.
Chrissy’s openness continues to resonate because it refuses to glamorize struggle or tie healing up in a neat bow. She allows space for contradiction: strength and vulnerability, clarity and uncertainty, confidence and humility.
In doing so, she reflects the lived reality of so many people navigating sobriety, especially women, parents, and public figures expected to hold it all together.
Read Chrissy’s whole letter here:
I am grateful to @carlradke. Not for just all the years on Bravo he has blessed us with, but because of his honesty and openness around his own journey with sobriety.
As you know, I’ve had my own. After being sober for a little over a year, I went back to drinking. I promised myself it would be in a “mindful” way. I wanted to be able to have a glass of wine on a date night with my husband. To be able to toast on birthdays. How lucky I am to have the life I have — I want to enjoy it! And I think that was my first problem. Tying drinking to reward or like some sort of life prize. Soon it became the kind of drinking I’m all too familiar with. Quiet moments at home were for wine. The time went from 6pm, to 5, to 4, to aw hell, it’s lunch, why not. When it got to 11am, I was like, oh fuck, here we go again.
And I know. I’m a whole ass mom. We aren’t talking the kind of drinking where you slur your words and miss a step on the stairs. It was just quiet and consistent. And god, I felt like shit. I missed being able to pick up my keys for a last-minute grocery run. But it wasn’t messy enough yet to stop.
Within the same week of talking to Carl, I stopped drinking again. I had been in talks for Star Search and knew that if I were given the incredible chance to be on the show, there was absolutely no fucking way I’d do it with alcohol in my dressing room.
I think the biggest difference between now and the first time is that there’s no pomp around it. The first time I put my foot down, it was EXCITING. The momentum was fun and kept me going on the right track. The second time… I dunno. I dunno if everyone around you kind of loses faith or if you do yourself, or a mix of both. Or maybe no one wants to get too excited. Like an old boyfriend you talked so much shit about to your friends, then you get back together with them and everyone just stops caring because who knowwwwws what’s gonna happen next.
Anyhow, this is long! But I’m 52 days sober again with no desire to turn back. Turns out, without it, I can still be funny. Still be stupid. Still be wildly nervous. Anxious as a mother fucker. And I can get through it all without it.
I love you guys. Thank you for listening!! Enjoy our talk, because it changed my life. No big deal.
