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You might have noticed the absence of Chrissy Teigen, an American model and wife of singer John Legend, on social media lately. The often snarky Twitter user took a step back from social media after being accused of bullying and harassing actor Courtney Stodden on Twitter over a decade ago.

She recently posted a lengthy apology on social media, asking for forgiveness.

After marrying 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison, then 16-year-old Courtney became an internet sensation overnight, with trolls calling her all sorts of nasty names and implying she was in the relationship only for money. And one of those trolls was Teigen, who not only directed horrible tweets at her but went an extra mile to privately message her insults, some of which said she "couldn't wait for her to die".

Doug and Courtney divorced last year and she has since opened up about the harrowing experience and being bullied by Teigen. The model has owned up to her mistake, regretting the words that she wrote and said she has been sitting in a hole of "deserved global punishment," dealing with a "crushing weight of regret".

"As you know, a bunch of my old awful (awful, awful) tweets resurfaced. I'm truly ashamed of them," the 35-year-old wrote. "As I look at them and understand the hurt they caused, I have to stop and wonder: 'How could I have done that?'"

She then added how she was in the process of privately reaching out to Stodden and others she treated similarly, acknowledging there was no excuse for her "horrible tweets."

"My targets didn't deserve them. No one does. Many of them needed empathy, kindness, understanding and support, not my meanness masquerading as a kind of casual, edgy humour," she wrote. "I was a troll, full stop. And I am so sorry."

The model also added that initially, her use of social media was restricted to making jokes and observations. However, it was her immaturity that led her to use the platform to snark at some celebrities, thinking it was cool.

"In reality, I was insecure, immature and in a world where I thought I needed to impress strangers to be accepted," she admitted. "I wasn't just attacking some random avatar, but hurting young women — some who were still girls — who had feelings," she added, saying that she has tried to connect with Courtney privately but since her disrespect was public, her apology should be too.

"I'm so sorry, Courtney. I hope you can heal now knowing how deeply sorry I am," she said.

Courtney then forgave her but also posted a screenshot online, claiming that Teigen had blocked her.

"I accept her apology and forgive her. But the truth remains the same, I have never heard from her or her camp in private," she revealed.

"In fact, she blocked me on Twitter. All of me wants to believe this is a sincere apology, but it feels like a public attempt to save her partnerships with Target and other brands who are realising her wokeness is a broken record."

After Teigen posted her apology, designer Michael Costello came forward to say that he still has "thoughts of suicide" after being bullying by Teigen for a fake screenshot that circulated under his name a couple years ago. Going public with the issue, he then opened up about how traumatising the bullying was and continues to be for him.

He claimed that Teigen refused to listen to him and formed her own opinion despite the fact that the photoshopped image was eventually proven to be false by Instagram. However, when he reached out to explain what had happened, "she told me that my career was over and that all my doors will be shut from now on".

Costello said she went to the extent of him calling a racist and saying "he deserved to die" while threatening to end his career. He revealed that her words still haunt him to this day.