Chrissy Teigen Talks Mom-Shaming, Embracing Stretch Marks, and Cooking for Baby Luna

It's been just over a month since Chrissy Teigen gave birth to her daughter, Luna Simone, with husband John Legend, but the model-turned-lifestyle guru shows no signs of slowing down—and we fully admire her for it. Scroll through her Instagram feed and you'll see perfectly filtered home-cooked meals, candid snaps of life at home with her little one, and nights out on the town (the latter of which sent the Internet into a collective tizzy, because why should a new mom get to spend time out of the house?). We recently sat down with Teigen at the hotel 11 Howard in New York City to talk about post-pregnancy life and how she's dealing with cyber haters. Here's an excerpt of our conversation:

Do you think Luna will inherit the chef gene?
She's on a strict diet of milk right now, but I cannot wait for her to start eating real food. I hope I get just as excited about making food for her. I remember making my own dog food and feeling very fulfilled by it, then by day four I was over it. She'll be in the kitchen cooking with me though. I make her watch me cook now and I'm not even sure she can see straight!

What will you prepare for her first real meal?
Probably my mom's jok moo—it's a Thai rice porridge. You cook the rice until it becomes nice and thick and creamy, then you take ground pork with some minced garlic and make pork meatballs, throw them in there, and add cilantro and ginger. It's one of the first solids that I ever ate.

Are you still cooking as often now that you're nursing?
I cooked my entire Mother's Day. Everyone was like, "Why are you cooking on Mother's Day?" I wouldn't imagine it any other way. We made John's fried chicken recipe, which is doused with Lawry's Seasoned Salt. We go through six to eight bottles a year of the stuff—it's our not-so-secret secret ingredient. Right now, I'm seated so much of the day. All of my Snapchats come from the exact same position on my couch. It's nice to put her [Luna] to bed and stand and cook and be on my feet for a bit.

Speaking of being on your feet, you look phenomenal. How did you shed the baby weight so quickly?
I was more active pregnant than I ever was not pregnant. I was doing Body By Simone five days a week. That definitely helped me shed the weight after giving birth. But it's all smoke and mirrors, too. People on Instagram forget that you're showing them what you want them to see. We have filters. You're able to shoot yourself at these angles where you're proud of the photo. I would hate for anybody to think that I didn't get a stretch mark, or that I don't still have a dark line on my belly. It's there for sure. I feel bad that anyone else would feel bad about themselves.

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Tell us more about these filters...
That Snapchat [flower crown] filter is amazing. It smooths the skin, which is like Photoshop in a way. Just try not to go too hard. I don't do any body editing. I just feel like I'll be the one to make a mistake. The whole background will be all screwed up!

You've recently been the subject of some serious mom-shaming on the Internet. How are you dealing with all of the trolls?
I don't know if it comes from a place of boredom, or they think I'm not going to read their comments, but it's just silly. You can never win. You're never going to make everybody happy. Those people are always the loudest. The ones with hate in their hearts are going to take to the computer.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.