EntertainmentChrissy Teigen said she's had a hard time teaching her children, Luna and Miles, about both systemic racism and their "privilege" during an interview with Marie Claire on Tuesday.- "There are no books for that," she said, adding, "Regardless of money or status, they’re always going to have their skin color."
- Teigen, who is of Norwegian and Thai descent, said she looks to her husband
John Legend , who is Black, for help while talking to their kids about race. - "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,” she said.
"There are books that I read when I became a mom that would explain to them hard and traumatic situations. But it's really hard to teach them about their privilege; there are no books for that," the "Cravings" author, 34, said.
She continued, "Regardless of money or status, they're always going to have their skin color."
Teigen, who is half-Norwegian and half-Thai, and her husband John Legend, who is Black, share Luna, 4, and Miles, 2.
The former supermodel, who's currently pregnant with the couple's third child, said she looks to the "Wild" singer for help while discussing race with their kids.
"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 explained.
She 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."
As for Legend, the Grammy Award-winning musician said that he views their interracial family as a "blessing" during a January 2020 interview with People.
"I feel like we learn from each other," he said. "We have different experiences. We laugh at each other. The food has been better because we're able to merge our taste and our different upbringings and what we grew up eating. We learn from each other and we love the things that are different about each other."
And though their family has honored its blended traditions and backgrounds, Legend admitted that it can be tricky to teach his children to appreciate their skin color, hair texture, and race when they don't regularly see people that look like them in movies, on television, or in books.
"It's almost like you're always fighting that battle and making sure they understand that they're valued and they're beautiful and their curly hair is beautiful and their skin color is beautiful," he told People.
Legend added, "As parents you have to make sure you take care of them and make sure they know that they're valued for who they are. And also, make sure they know that there's more to them than the grain of their hair or the color of their skin."
The musician said that it's also important to discuss Luna and Miles' privilege so that they can one day leverage it to benefit others.
"As they get older, I want them to realize the privileges they have in this life and know that that's unique and they're very fortunate to have them," he said. "Hopefully they'll spend a lot of their energy trying to help people that don't have those privileges."
Legend was raised in a working-class family in Ohio, he told Heat magazine in 2018. He explained that it's "weird" to see how Luna and Miles' childhood differs from his own, especially during the holidays.
"My dad worked in a factory and we couldn't afford a lot. We couldn't afford to have these huge Christmas celebrations with big gifts. It was all about family, it was about music, and it was about food — but it wasn't about material things at all," he said.
Legend continued, "It's weird raising kids that are having very much the opposite experience, where they're surrounded by privilege and wealth, and don't want for anything."