Fashion designer Michael Costello says bullying by Chrissy Teigen pushed him to 'thoughts of suicide'

• Michael Costello said years of Chrissy Teigen bullying left him suicidal.
• Costello said Teigen began her campaign of bullying in 2014. She has not yet responded publicly.
• Costello's accusations come just hours after Teigen apologized for cyberbullying Courtney Stodden.

Hours after Chrissy Teigen published a public apology for cyberbullying model Courtney Stodden in 2011, fashion designer Michael Costello detailed what he described as a seven-year bullying campaign by Teigen to ruin his career in a lengthy Instagram post.

"I didn't want to do this, but I can not be happy until I speak my mind. I need to heal and in order for me to do that I must reveal what I've been going through," he wrote. "I wanted to kill myself and I still am traumatized, depressed, and have thoughts of suicide."

In the lengthy post, Costello, 38, said that he first received a public message from Teigen on Instagram in 2014 in which she accused him of racism after seeing an unverified screenshot of him using the n-word. Costello said the comment was fake and had been photoshopped by a "former disgruntled employee" to publicly embarrass him.

"When I reached out to Chrissy Teigen to communicate that I was the victim of a vindictive cyber slander and that everything she thought I was is not who I am, she told me that my career was over and that all my doors will be shut from there on," the post continued.

Costello said that since then, Teigen and her stylist Monica Rose have gone out of their way to "threaten people and brands if they in any shape or form" associated with him. As a result, he claimed that he had been pulled off several jobs at the last minute without explanation.

Insider has reached out to representatives for Teigen and Rose for comment.

"So many nights I stayed awake, wanting to kill myself. I didn't see the point of living," Costello said about the effect Teigen and Rose have had on his life.

The former "Project Runway" designer said that he had recently prepared personal letters for his friends and family because he believed "taking my own life would be the best way out."

"I told my family how much I love them, how much I care for them, and just how sorry I was for my decision. Since then, everyone in my family has had me on a close watch against my will," he added.

"I just want people to realize that I, too, am human and this was the most inhuman treatment to ever be endured by someone who has seen their decades of hard work, years of building a brand, crumble from one comment. These bullies could've reached out to me anytime, but they refused. Instead, they would much rather see me suffer and laugh at my demise."

Costello also shared screenshots of private messages he says Teigen exchanged with him, in which she refused to believe the designer's claim that the racist comment had been photoshopped. "Racist people like you deserve to suffer and die," Teigen said in the screenshot. "You might as well be dead. Your career is over, just watch."

The designer's accusation comes after Teigen apologized for offensive resurfaced tweets from 2011 about model Courtney Stodden, who was 16 years old at the time. In one message, Teigen told Stodden "I can't wait for you to die."

"There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets," Teigen wrote in her apology post.

"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 humor."