Teigen shot back with a chilly smile: âGuys, youâre talking about me like Iâm not here. Iâm right here.â (Teigen added an expletive for good measure.)
Here, there and everywhere, it seems. She has parlayed her status as a Sports Illustrated cover model and, yes, the bracingly irreverent wife of a singing star into that of a pop culture fixture.
A natural comic, she is a voluble and engaging presence on Twitter, Instagram and her food blog, So Delushious, which is punctuated with profanity-larded recipes and, on occasion, a naked selfie.
Along with LL Cool J, she hosts âLip Sync Battleâ on Spike, mugging shamelessly as she mouths the words to standards and pop tunes. She is also a regular contributor to TMZ, MTV and VH1, among others, and only last week spoke candidly on E! News and âFABLife,â her new show, about her struggle to conceive, her comments picked up on People.com.
She has certainly had a hand in the success of the âFABLife,â the ABC daytime round table moderated by Tyra Banks, on which Teigen prepares dishes from her Thai motherâs kitchen. The show, according to Nielsen, has been a hit around the country.
Teigen was very much on view at the San Gennaro feast, a rangy, apple-cheeked magnet to passers-by. She had made sure that she would be, wearing a cream-colored Antonio Berardi tunic over the briefest frayed denim shorts and thigh-clutching Altuzarra boots. She toted, she imparted knowingly, âmy Faye bag â itâs ChloĂ©.â
âI was debating a leather jacket, but the heat nixed it,â she said over a lemonade as she settled at a corner table at Seamoreâs, the thrumming seafood restaurant on Broome Street. Almost instantly, the procession caught her eye.
âOh, hereâs the saint,â she said breathlessly, as San Gennaroâs painted effigy passed. âThe last time I saw him, people were throwing money.â
The festival and Little Italy itself captivate the 29-year-old Teigen, who lives in its cacophonous heart. âIn the summer this place looks like the Jersey Shore: all tans and flip-flops,â she said. âI like the excitement, people buying things, the fried Twinkies and doughnuts.
âIâm like a kid who comes to an amusement park. All thatâs missing is a petting zoo.â
Her real-life petting zoo consists of the bulldogs she shares with Legend, which turn up routinely on her Instagram account. âBefore a dog in bed gets you all riled up, just know that we stink equally,â read one recent post. Such unfiltered remarks bolster her reputation as outspoken and refreshingly real.
An earlier post, a raw-looking snapshot of her thighs, bluntly captioned, âBruises from bumping kitchen drawer handles for a week. Stretchies say hi!â was even more instrumental in building her rabidly loyal female following.
On the street, just the same, Teigen attracts low whistles and catcalls. âItâs so weird to hear, like, âbaby,â from a man,â she said, perhaps a bit naively. âIâve just never been that girl.â
Female viewers are the target audience for âFABLife.â As the showâs food stylist, Teigen shares the spotlight with Banks and Joe Zee of Yahoo Style, who weighs in each day as the fashion pundit.
Female viewers will be the likely target as well for âOrdinary People,â a romantic comedy being produced by Teigen and Legend for ABC. The show will have musical elements inspired loosely by the coupleâs relationship.
Such a roster of commitments leaves little time for modeling. Not that Teigen â who has had stints as a catalog girl and, at the more lustrous end of the business, assignments for W magazine â is wringing her hands.
âModeling was never a passion,â she said. âI donât like the constant fittings. The hair and makeup takes 20 times longer than the shoot.â
âI find myself dreading it,â she added. âFor a week before any shoot, I would wake up and count the days. Besides, you canât love food as much as I do and then be looking at pictures of yourself.â
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