Chrissy Teigen stands up for Jeff Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sanchez after controversial restaurateur Keith McNally calls her 'absolutely revolting'

Chrissy Teigen came to the defense of the entertainment reporter Lauren Sánchez on Monday after she was savaged in an Instagram post by the restaurateur Keith McNally.

McNally, 72, blasted Sánchez, 54, in an Instagram post on Monday, calling the fiancée of Jeff Bezos 'absolutely revolting' and attacking her as 'ugly' and 'f***ing smug.'

Teigen, stood up for Sánchez in a comment to the Balthazar owner, who previously ignited a feud with James Corden after the talk show host allegedly shouted at Balthazar staff members about his wife's omelet.

'She's actually incredibly dynamic, accomplished and kind, and everyone who knows her would say the same,' the 38-year-old model wrote.  

Sanchez began an affair with Bezos in 2018, when both were still married, and the two subsequently got engaged in May of 2023.

McNally inspired defenses of Sánchez after he shared a carousel of recent pictures of her and Bezos and proceeded to skewer the pair.

'Does anybody else find Jeff Bezos' New wife — Lauren Sanchez — ABSOLUTELY REVOLTING?' he wrote in the caption.

'What an ugly and F***ing SMUG-LOOKING couple they make. Is this what having 1000 Billion dollars does to people?' he mused

Teigen has a special perspective on the seemingly unprovoked insults, as she has been both the target of social media attacks as well as the alleged instigator of online bullying.

Back in 2021, she announced that she was leaving Twitter (now X) in the wake of numerous social media critiques and a barrage of attacks from the pro-Trump right-wing conspiracy theory group QAnon, which baselessly claimed she and husband John Legend were part of a secret pedophile ring, according to The Guardian.

But Teigen was on the defensive shortly afterward when the model and influencer Courtney Stodden — who is nonbinary — claimed Teigen told them to 'kill' themself in direct messages on Twitter from 2011.

Teigen has also made public posts urging Stodden to take a 'dirt nap,' a euphemism for dying and being buried.

Teigen later apologized for being a 'troll,' and after a period away from social media she returned to Twitter and Instagram, though she stopped posting on Twitter in May of last year.

McNally's seemingly unprovoked roast comes a week after Sanchez and Bezos made several public appearances together in Washington, DC, at the White House's state dinner for the Prime Minister of Japan and to present the Courage and Civility Award, an annual grant of $100 million that Bezos distributes.

It is not clear why McNally targeted Sánchez and Bezos specifically. 

Other high-profile defenders popped up in the comments to defend the TV personality, including MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle.

'No,' she replied to McNally's foul-mouthed query. 'I think she's accomplished, kind, smart and loved. Social media is fun, but this is not. It is just mean for no reason. If we all took a breath and thought about what it feels like to be mocked and teased, we'd do a lot less of it.'

McNally, the owner of enduring New York City hot-spots Balthazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern,and Morandi, has previously picked several fights with well-known visitors to his restaurants.

In October of 2022, he started a weeks-long feud with then late-night host James Corden, who reportedly screamed at McNally's Balthazar staff over an all-yolk omelet his wife had attempted to order.

McNally posted a long statement to Instagram detailing Corden's alleged unpleasant encounters with the Balthazar staff and issuing a ban on Corden as a guest of his establishments.  

Corden, who has on multiple occasions been pegged as difficult to work with, defended himself on-air and in a New York Times profile at the time, which reignited his feud with McNally.

Over the years, McNally has proven himself to be a lightning rod for controversy with Instagram posts that frequently enflame the discourse.

He has, since he joined the platform, been a periodically staunch defender of Woody Allen, who has been plagued for decades by his decision to become romantically involved with his ex partner Mia Farrow's adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, with whom he remains to this day.

Allen was later accused of sexually assaulting his daughter Dylan Farrow, whom he adopted with Farrow in 1991.  

He has always denied her allegations and was never charged.

Late last year, McNally apologized for an Instagram post he wrote in the immediate wake of the October 7 attack on Israel. 

'The More Utterly Repugnant The Facts, The Greater The Responsibility Becomes To Listen To The Other Side,' he wrote below a picture of the retaliatory strikes Israel was executing against the terror group.

He later recanted his statement, strongly condemning Hamas and its terror activities.

'I want to make it clear: Those who continue to look away from or fail to condemn Hamas' horrific terror are not serving the cause of Palestinian freedom. They are endorsing cold blooded murder, rape, kidnapping, torture,' he wrote on October 10.

In November, exactly one month after the attack on Israel, he wrote: 'If those asking for better conditions for the Palestinians prefaced their request by denouncing the savagery of Hamas's October 7th attack and that the taking of civilians hostages is an act of cruel and obscene wickedness, I'd have three times as much sympathy for them.' 

As of April 15, Israeli attacks have killed at least 33,797 people in Gaza, including more than 13,800 children and 8,400 women, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and at least 465 people have been killed in the occupied West Bank, even though it is not governed by Hamas.

Israel later revised the death toll of the October 7 attacks down to 1,139 people, while at least 8,730 were injured.