Chrissy Teigen Says She and John Legend Were Once Followed in Car in 'Scary' Racist Incident

"It was a terrible, scary experience," Chrissy Teigen recalled

Chrissy Teigen is opening up about a racist encounter she and husband John Legend experienced 10 years ago.

In the latest cover story for Marie Claire, the model and cookbook author shared that she and Legend, 41, were once followed and harassed by two "neighborhood-watch-type" white men in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 2010.

"We were in a nicer neighborhood at night, driving slowly, looking for John's godmother's home. These two guys were in a pickup truck slowly tailing us, flashing their lights and trying to speak to us,” Teigen, 34, told the outlet. "When we pulled over, they were like, 'What are you guys looking for?' and we gave them the address."

Teigen continued, "They literally said, 'Get your asses out of here!' and proceeded to follow us all the way into her driveway. They got out of the car and stared at us as we knocked on the door and went inside. It was a terrible, scary experience."

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Lauren Dukoff

Lauren Dukoff

Said the model and cookbook author, "That was my first taste of seeing what happens to Black men every day. It was horrifying and could have gone wrong so quickly. I was sobbing afterward for hours, and I noticed John wasn't emotional about it. Seeing that he wasn't very thrown by it was really upsetting because he obviously had experienced it before."

Teigen shares daughter Luna, 4, and son Miles, 2, with Legend and is currently expecting their third child, the couple announced last month.

In the interview, she also opened up about how she tackles teaching her children about racism.

Lauren Dukoff

"There are books that I read when I became a mom that would explain to them hard and traumatic situations," she said. "But it's really hard to teach them about their privilege; there are no books for that. But regardless of money or status, they're always going to have their skin color."

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"When it comes to them being treated differently because of the color of their skin, I'm going to look to John for a lot of help with that because while they are Asian and white too, their skin color is Black," Teigen added. "We just try to talk to them like little adults, saying it in words they'll understand, making it known that it's very serious, and letting them ask as many questions as they need."

To help combat systemic racism, consider learning from or donating to these organizations:

• Campaign Zero (joincampaignzero.org) which works to end police brutality in America through research-proven strategies.
• ColorofChange.org works to make the government more responsive to racial disparities.
• National Cares Mentoring Movement (caresmentoring.org) provides social and academic support to help Black youth succeed in college and beyond.