Chrissy Teigen and John Legend have been married for a decade! On September 14, 2023, the duo celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary, a significant milestone for any couple.
After meeting on the set of a music video in 2006, Teigen and Legend have built quite a life together.
It hasn’t always been easy for the couple, though, as they’ve been open about their fertility struggles over the years. The difficulties didn’t stop Teigen and Legend from growing their family, as they’re now parents of four: Luna, 7, Miles, 5, Esti, 7 months, and Wren, 3 months.
In celebration of Teigen and Legend’s big day, ET is taking a look back at how their relationship came to be and where their family stands today.
Teigen met Legend on the set of his music video for his song, “Stereo.”
“I walked into John’s dressing room to meet him, and he was ironing in his underwear,” she told Cosmopolitan in 2014. “I said, ‘You do your own ironing!?’ He said, ‘Of course I do.’ I gave him a hug.”
The pair chatted throughout the 14-hour shoot and later dined on In-N-Out burgers in his hotel room.
“I’m not going to lie. We hooked up,” Teigen admitted to the outlet.
Things didn’t immediately get serious, though, as Legend headed off on tour, and they kept in touch through texting and talking on the phone.
“I let him be himself for a while,” she said. “The worst thing you can do is try to lock someone like that down early on, then have them think, There’s so much more out there. I played it cool for a long time. Never once did I ask, ‘What are we?’ Marriage was never my goal, because I’ve never been very traditional. I was just happy to be with him.”
Legend told ET in 2016 that he “fell in love” with Teigen over the phone, he quipped of her famed Twitter account, “She is good with those 140 characters.”
“[At the beginning of our relationship] we were texting a lot, and I started to see her sense of humor. We would talk on the phone, and I started to fall in love with how engaging and witty and funny she is,” he said. “And I think that’s when I really started to know that this was the kind of person I wanted to be around a lot.”
The duo had a brief breakup in 2007 when Teigen traveled with Legend on his Once Again Tour.
“I was on tour with him and he’d gotten sick. He was feeling really bummed and stressed out. He was like, ‘I can’t be in a relationship right now.’ That lasted for one day. Literally, a day,” Teigen told Cosmopolitan in 2016. “I knew it came from a place other than us not working. It was the stress of him having to maybe cancel a show, and he had never been in a real relationship — or so he says now. I always joke, ‘Remember when you tried to break up with me?’ He’s like, ‘Yes, sorry. Big mistake.'”
Later that year, Teigen was sure she wanted to marry Legend. In a 2016 Instagram post, Teigen recalled traveling to Lake Como, Italy, with her now-husband back in 2007.
“A boat tour guide took us to a little spot on the lake and told us to make a wish,” she wrote. “I asked for this to be the man I marry and have children with. I think John asked for the most perfect bite of cacio e pepe. Both came true and here we are.”
The couple made their red carpet debut at the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Teigen recalled the night a decade later, sharing a photo from the evening, which she captioned, “Grammys 2008. 10 years ago. This tan!!! Lmao.”
Before the New Year, the couple confirmed that they got engaged while vacationing in the Maldives. In 2013, Legend told Oprah Winfrey how his proposal was almost ruined by airport security.
“I knew I was going to propose by then. I was planning it a couple of months in advance. I was trying to hide the ring in my bag. She can see anything in my bag. I don’t hide stuff from her, so I had to put it in a nondescript box that she wouldn’t question,” Legend explained. “It was in my carry-on bag going through the airport security and security wanted to look through my bag and they wanted to look in that particular box.”
“Chrissy was standing right next to me and I was, like, ‘Oh, my God. I’ve hid it so well this whole time. Now as we’re just about to get to the Maldives she’s going find out I have a ring in this box, it’s going to ruin the surprise. I’m gonna have to get on my knees in the airport,'” he recalled, before noting that security ended up not opening the box.
The proposal ended up going off without a hitch, with Teigen explaining on an episode of FABLife, “This waiter comes out with a silver dome for dessert… So he opens up the dome and a ton of arugula falls out and then I kind of fish in it… and I see the little box and then, you know, your heart stops and you get so excited. There was no big grand speech or anything. I think it was just very lovely and sweet.”
Legend pulled off the ultimate romantic gesture when he released “All of Me,” a love song dedicated to Teigen.
“The first line of it is ‘What would I do without your smart mouth,’ so if that’s not about me I don’t know what is,” Teigen joked while on HuffPost Live at the time. “I did cry when I heard it. I’m emotional, but like I don’t really cry at things like that so yeah, it was beautiful. And live it’s pretty unreal.”
The couple tied the knot twice in 2013 — first in a courthouse ceremony in New York City, and then again in Lake Como, Italy.
“We actually got married after going to a couple of Fashion Week shows at Vera Wang, ironically who actually did my dress, but we got married at the courthouse right after,” Teigen told E! News in 2013. “We are dumb and didn’t realize that our Italian wedding would not be recognized unless we had a real ceremony in New York City. So Irina Shayk was our witness — the most beautiful woman on earth!”
Days later, during their Italian nuptials, Teigen wowed in three Vera Wang wedding gowns.
Teigen publicly opened up about her fertility issues during an episode of her TV panel discussion show FABLife, while talking with co-host Tyra Banks. “John and I were having trouble. We would have had kids five, six years ago if it had happened,” Teigen said. “But my gosh, it’s been a process.”
Teigen also explained how her and Legend’s fertility struggles were made more difficult by the constant questions they get from the media, who frequently asked when they were planning on starting a family.
“Once you open up about those things to other people, you start learning that a lot of other people in your life are seeing these people and they have this shame about it,” the Lip Sync Battle co-host continued. “Any time somebody asks me if I’m gonna have kids, I’m just like, ‘One day, you’re gonna ask that to the wrong girl who is really struggling, and it’s going to be really hurtful to them,’ and I hate that. Stop asking me!”
Teigen announced that she and Legend were expecting their first baby together in a heartfelt Instagram post, alongside a black-and-white snapshot of the cute couple laying together on a couch.
“John and I are so happy to announce that we are pregnant 🙂 As many of you know, we’ve been trying to have a baby for a while now. It hasn’t been easy, but we kept trying because we can’t wait to bring our first child into the world and grow our family,” Teigen wrote in the caption. “We’re so excited that it’s finally happening. Thank you for all your love and well wishes. I look forward to all the belly touching!”
Teigen revealed that she and her husband decided to choose the sex of their forthcoming child while sitting down for an interview with People. “I’ve made this decision,” Teigen said. “Not only am I having a girl, but I picked the girl from her little embryo. I picked her and was like, ‘Let’s put in the girl.'”
“I think I was most excited and allured by the fact that John would be the best father to a little girl. That excited me,” she added. “It excited me to see … just the thought of seeing him with a little girl. I think he deserves a little girl. I think he deserves that bond.”
Even then, Teigen explained that she and Legend already had plans on having a son in the future, after their first child. “A boy will come along,” she says. “We’ll get there too, so it’s not like we really have to pick. But he definitely is very lucky to have a little girl. And this girl is going to be so completely lucky to have John as her papa — it’s crazy!”
Later, Teigen responded to backlash she faced from internet haters who criticized her for choosing the sex of her baby. “What is that difference though? I’ve already created embryos with a doctor. only after must it be random. This is all so interesting,” the model tweeted. “I said it so casually because I’m just open. I’m around so many open-minded people & forgot it’s controversial.”
Teigen announced Baby Luna’s arrival — and revealed her name — with a super sweet snapshot she posted to Instagram. “She’s here! Luna Simone Stephens, we are so in love with you! And sleepy. Very sleepy,” Teigen wrote.
Legend candidly spoke about their desire to try for a second baby when he opened up to ET at the Television Critics Association press day in Pasadena, California. The singer revealed, “We want to have more. I don’t know the timing, but we definitely wanna have at least a couple more.”
Teigen reiterated the couple’s desire for to try for another baby when speaking with ET at the 28th Annual Producers Guild Awards, where she gushed, “Oh, my God, a little boy is next for sure.”
Once again, Teigen had to take on critics who criticized her decision to use IVF and questioned her choice to select her baby’s sex. “Since this is coming up again, I said our next baby would be a boy because that is the embryo we have left. A boy. So. Yeah.”
Soon after, one Twitter hater asked Teigen, “Did you give it a minute to try naturally or are you avoiding ‘the act?'”
Teigen blasted back at the rude remark, saying, “Hi Linda, thanks for asking, you complete witch. I tried for about 9 years. Anything else, let me know!”
Speaking with Marie Claire for an interview in the magazine’s July Wellness Issue, Teigen said that she wants to have more kids, whether it means getting pregnant again or adopting a baby.
“I would definitely adopt or have foster children,” she revealed. “But I loved being pregnant. Maybe I should be scared [of having postpartum depression again], but I don’t know. It couldn’t be any worse than it was — could it?”
Teigen got candid with Cosmopolitan during the inaugural Chase Sapphire Sundays: Brunch with Chrissy Teigen event in Venice, California, and reflected on how her and Legend’s attempts at having a second baby were partially responsible for her trying to cut back on her drinking, and the impetus for the couple’s numerous family vacations to Italy and Bali in recent months.
“A lot of stuff’s about to come,” she said. “We’re going to try to have a child. This is for us to try to get in the zone of ‘let’s travel, let’s be away together, let’s see our closest friends,’ and then we’re going to have to do something super hard, which is the IVF process, all over again.”
Legend got candid about the couple’s fertility issues while speaking with Cosmopolitan magazine, and said how struggling to conceive in the early years of their marriage, and the challenges and joys of raising a baby, only made their connection stronger.
“Having a baby is a big challenge for a couple, and going through that together strengthens your bond because if you make it through [having a child], you know you can make it through anything,” the 10-time GRAMMY winner shared. “I think it’s especially difficult when you can’t conceive naturally. You want to feel like everything’s working properly and want everything to be perfect, but sometimes it’s not.”
“I wouldn’t say we can’t conceive naturally, but I would say that it’s enough of a challenge where it felt like we needed help,” he added. “We’re lucky that we’re living in an age where we can conceive in other ways. [IVF] brought us Luna and hopefully it will bring us a few more awesome kids, too.”
Teigen changed the conversation about expanding her family from being speculative to definite when sitting down for a conversation with InStyle where she revealed that she and her hubby were ready to try for their second baby in the “coming months.”
Teigen told the magazine that she wished she’d extracted more eggs when she underwent her fertility treatments a few years ago. The model said they started with 20 embryos, but after a screening to check for imperfections, and finding the ones they “know are going to be good for your body,” Teigen was left with three.
“The first little girl didn’t work, and then the second is Luna,” Teigen said, before revealing that they would soon be transferring the third embryo into her womb in the near future.
Teigen announced she and Legend are expecting their second baby when she shared a selfie to Snapchat showing off her burgeoning baby bump in a tight black dress, which she captioned, “Very excited to not have to hide this anymore. Everyone I told first was like, ‘Uh, yeah we knew, thanks!'”
She also shared a super cute video to Instagram with her little girl. “Luna, what’s in here?” the expectant mom asked as as Luna replied, “Baby!” while rubbing her mom’s belly.
In an interview with ET just a couple months later, Teigen admitted she was “nervous” about introducing another baby to the family.
“I think the balance is hard. I mean, you want to be able to give one so much attention and shower them with love and affection, but then you have a little baby too, and that’ll be rough to balance,” she explained. “I’m excited to figure it out, because, hopefully, we won’t stop at two, and we’ll be on our way to Todville.”
The Lip Sync Battle co-host also discussed how Luna was adjusting to her soon-to-be little brother.
“She is so excited. Actually, she’s got her little baby doll now that she’s been really taking care of,” she said.
“It’s hard though, because she’s definitely jealous of John and I,” she added, before explaining that the then-1-year-old is just super “protective” of her dad. “She’s so protective of John and when we kiss, she, like, looks [up] from no matter where she is.”
Legend told ET in April 2018 that he and Teigen couldn’t be more excited about preparing to be parents of two.
“It’s always exciting because you never know what they’re going to be like,” he shared. “You’re just excited that another product of your relationship and your love is going to be out there in front of you.”
“We’re just excited to see how we’re going to be as parents of two, and how Luna is going to be as a big sister,” he added. “It’s going to be really exciting and fun.”
Just over two years after Luna was born, Teigen and Legend welcomed their second child together. She shared the news on Twitter, excitedly writing, “Somebody’s herrrrrrre!” alongside baby bottle emojis.
Soon after, the little one’s name was revealed: Miles Theodore Stephens.
Teigen told Us Weekly in March 2018 that she had thought about adding to her brood. “I think I do want to have another baby after this and then get hot. … I just want to [have] babies, back to back to back, but then I think maybe I want to have my 30s, really live in my 30s and not just be pregnant throughout them,” she said.
She added, “I have a husband who truly loves the whole experience. He holds my belly at night, sings to it, wants to be there for me. I’m really lucky because some men start to look at you like a tool, I’ve heard, so I’ve been scared and don’t let that happen to me! But it hasn’t and it’s really good.”
The model-entrepreneur opened up about her and Legend’s plans for baby No. 3 last August, as a fan commented on her Instagram suggesting they expand their family.
“Gonna try to wait a few years before attempting again,” Teigen wrote. “These guys are exhausting!”
The couple made the reveal they were expecting baby No. 3 in the video for Legend’s song, “Wild,” featuring Gary Clark Jr.
Toward the end of the music video, Legend wraps his arms around Teigen, who is wearing a loose-fitting white dress, and puts his hand on her stomach, drawing attention to her what appeared to be a baby bump.
In an interview with ET just hours before he and Teigen announced they were expecting their third child, the EGOT winner hinted that perhaps this time around, the pregnancy was a happy surprise.
“We don’t plan these things,” he said of having more kids. “We haven’t planned them right now, but we’ll see what happens. You spend enough time together, you never know.”
One month after sharing the news that they were expecting their child, Teigen revealed that she suffered complications at the 20-week mark, and their son, whom they named Jack, died.
“We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before. We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions. It just wasn’t enough,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of her crying in the hospital.
“We never decide on our babies’ names until the last possible moment after they’re born, just before we leave the hospital. But we, for some reason, had started to call this little guy in my belly Jack. So he will always be Jack to us. Jack worked so hard to be a part of our little family, and he will be, forever,” she continued. “To our Jack – I’m so sorry that the first few moments of your life were met with so many complications, that we couldn’t give you the home you needed to survive. We will always love you.”
Teigen ended her message with gratitude toward her and John’s older children.
“We are so grateful for the life we have, for our wonderful babies, Luna and Miles, for all the amazing things we’ve been able to experience. But everyday can’t be full of sunshine,” Teigen expressed. “On this darkest of days, we will grieve, we will cry our eyes out. But we will hug and love each other harder and get through it.”
Though she was healing and grieving the loss of Jack, Teigen opened up about joining RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association and Ferring Pharmaceuticals to launch Fertility Out Loud, a new campaign designed to help those struggling to start or grow their family.
In an interview with Refinery 29, the model and entrepreneur said she didn’t realize how little it was talked about until she started sharing her story.
“I’ve been open about so much throughout my life, and so [infertility] didn’t seem like a crazy thing to talk about. But the more I spoke about it, the more I realized how taboo it was,” Teigen said. “But quietly, I was getting DMs and letters — like handwritten letters — and emails. I realized that people didn’t think they could talk about it on an open forum, but they were happy to do it privately. I realized people don’t feel comfortable talking about this.”
Teigen also did an interview with Today, where she shared that although she was told that she wouldn’t be able to safely carry a baby, she and Legend weren’t giving up on their dream of expanding their family, adding that they were open to other methods.
“There’s so many different ways to make your dream happen now,” she said. “Coming to terms with the fact that I can’t carry again has been something really tough, and I’ve agonized over it, because to me, it’s when I’m at my happiest. I loved being pregnant, and the fact I got to do it twice, I think was miraculous enough.”
“There’s a way to have that beautiful child whether it’s your own or whether you adopt,” she added. “I think the more we share our stories, the more people will realize that they connect with one of those stories. … There’s something so beautiful about that.”
Almost two years after the loss of Jack, Teigen shared that she was expecting another baby. In the emotional post, the cookbook author shared that she was hesitant to share the news with her followers — as she wanted to make sure things were healthy.
“the last few years have been a blur of emotions to say the least, but joy has filled our home and hearts again. 1 billion shots later (in the leg lately, as u can see!) we have another on the way. Every appointment I’ve said to myself, “ok if it’s healthy today I’ll announce” but then I breathe a sigh of relief to hear a heartbeat and decide I’m just too nervous still. I don’t think I’ll ever walk out of an appointment with more excitement than nerves but so far, everything is perfect and beautiful and I’m feeling hopeful and amazing. Ok phew it’s been very hard keeping this in for so long!,” she wrote.
Mom and dad weren’t the only people excited about their upcoming bundle. During a chat with ET, a glowing and growing Teigen shared how Luna and Miles were taking the news of their little sibling.
“She’s so nurturing and loving,” Teigen said of the couple’s eldest daughter, Luna. “And so she’s just very, very exciting.” On the other hand, their son Miles showed a touch of apprehension.
“Miles is a little more on the fence, because Luna is always going to be the big girl, right? But Miles is, you know, not going to be the baby anymore,” Teigen shared. “We spend a lot more time with him and telling him that he’s always going to be our baby boy. … That’s it for us. So, I mean, he’s going to be the best. He’s going to be so good.”
Legend spoke with ET, shortly after his wife, and admitted that he and Teigen had more babies on the brain — even though she was currently carrying.
“Chrissy, I think, wants more,” Legend told ET. “I’m one of four, so I’m cool with it. I was like, you know, once you get into that zone it’s a lot of folks — especially when you’re traveling, [it] gets difficult.”
He continued, “Chrissy and I, you know, we get on a lot of planes together and once you have four kids, it gets logistically — it gets complicated.”
Isn’t she lovely! Teigen and Legend announced they welcomed their daughter, Esti Maxine Stevens. The proud parents made the announcement with a sweet carousel of photos featuring their kids and their little sibling.
“She’s here! Esti Maxine Stephens – the house is bustling and our family could not be happier 💕 Daddy sheds nightly tears of joy seeing Luna and Miles so full of love, and I am learning you still need diapers with a c section!? We are in bliss. Thank you for all the love and well wishes – we feel it all! X,” Teigen wrote.
Legend shared the same news on his respective Instagram.
“On Friday, we welcomed Esti Maxine Stephens to our family, and our house is overflowing with love and joy. I’m in awe of Chrissy’s strength and resilience and I’m so thrilled to see how Luna and Miles embrace their baby sister. I’m so, so grateful, but that doesn’t seem like a big enough word…,” the proud dad wrote.
Three’s company! Just months after announcing the arrival of her baby girl, Teigen gave ET an update on how parenting three kids is working out for her and Legend.
“I’m feeling so good. I feel this weird energy that I didn’t have after Luna and that I didn’t have after Miles. I think there’s just a certain confidence that comes with having your third that you just feel pretty ballsy and that you can attack anything head on and that everything’s gonna be OK,” she explained.
As or Luna and Miles, there isn’t enough Esti to go around.
“They adore her so much. The biggest problem I have with Miles is that he gives Esti kisses that are too hard, and with Luna, just that she fights with Miles over who gets to push her in the stroller,” she said.
Welcome, baby boy! Teigen and Legend surprised the world when they announced — just five months after their daughter’s arrival — that they had welcomed a son — Wren Alexander Stephens — via surrogate.
The former model took to Instagram to share the news and the emotional journey to their fourth child, which began when they decided they wanted to have more children after the loss of Jack.
“After losing Jack, I didn’t think I’d be able to carry any more babies on my own. To be honest, I’ve personally blocked out a lot of my mindset during that time, but one clear memory is being surrounded by people who wanted to make sure I wouldn’t go through that pain and loss again,” Teigen wrote. “In 2021, we reached out to a surrogacy agency, with our first correspondence inquiring about perhaps having 2 tandem surrogate, to each bring us a healthy baby boy or girl. Twins, kinda?! At some point, early in our surrogacy journey, I came out of a therapy session, walked downstairs and said to John – I want to try to carry just one more time. If it doesn’t work, we will be okay. We’ve already seen the worst. I promised I would be okay no matter what happened. I remember saying I just couldn’t go on wondering my whole life if I should have tried again.”
She added, “And so we restarted the IVF process, the same process that gave us our beautiful Luna and Miles. We made new embryos. We did my transfer, and were happy to learn it worked — we were pregnant with our little girl, Esti,” Teigen continued. “Around this same time, we also met the most incredible, loving, compassionate surrogate we could ever imagine, Alexandra. I knew she was a perfect match for us the moment we spoke to her. All our wishes and dreams aligned. I wanted to be her friend, I wanted our children to play, I wanted dinner together, I wanted to lay my head on her belly and be able to feel the hiccups and kicks. I wanted them to be in our lives for as long as time would allow.”
“The first embryo we tried with Alex didn’t survive, and I will never forget how hard she fought to get ready for a second transfer. How much she gave up of her own body — surgeries to get scar tissue cleared, the mental toll it takes to go through all of that for yourself, much less for other people,” she added. “Not wanting to rush the process, we took a breath and… were just patient. I laid around, enjoying the first trimester of my pregnancy, with of course a little bit of fear that isn’t any different from any other expecting couple. As we crept toward the safe zone of my own pregnancy, we were overjoyed to learn Alexandra became pregnant with a little boy. Our little boy.”
Legend took to his respective account to share the news with his followers.
“Wren Alexander Stephens, our new love,” he wrote.
As Teigen and Legend juggle four kids at home, a source explained to ET how the celebrity pair makes it all work.
“Chrissy and John are super hands-on parents and always making their kids a priority,” the source said. “They feel so happy as a big family and Chrissy often brings her older kids to work commitments she thinks they would enjoy. She adores being a mom and her kids are all so sweet together. Chrissy and John have help, so it helps them be able to do their jobs and also make time for each other.”
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