John Legend Gives Us a Peek Into Chrissy Teigen's 'Beautiful Mind'

PALM SPRINGS, Calif.—Chrissy Teigen is full of good ideas. She has so many, in fact, that her husband, singer John Legend, keeps tabs on all of them. “I keep a 'Chrissy ideas' folder on my phone and laptop just to document all the random creative thoughts that come from Chrissy’s beautiful mind,” Legend said to a packed house of more than 700 marketers and executives attending Adweek’s annual Brandweek summit. “Some are television show concepts. Some are book ideas. Some are kitchen hacks. Some are more practical than others. Some, I have no idea the scientific feasibility of, like clear aluminum foil. Bear with me: It’s aluminum foil, but it’s clear. It’s not plastic wrap. It’s aluminum. It’s a metal that you can see through.” Legend—who implored the gala attendees to look into inventing that clear aluminum foil—isn’t the only one singing Teigen’s praises. The cookbook author, model, television personality and Adweek’s 2019 Brand Visionary is in high demand with brands from Becca Cosmetics to Pampers that want to team up with Teigen’s infectious and unfiltered personality. On Monday night, Teigen and 10 brand marketers were honored for their work over the past year in the brand marketing space. “What can I say that I haven’t already written for John to say?” Teigen joked upon accepting the Brand Visionary honor. "Obviously, I am not the award winner in the family. He’s got four shelves of them, and I have a few, like, mac 'n cheese awards and different random things.” All kidding aside, Teigen shouted out her team—dubbed Camp Chrissy for their trek to Palm Springs—for their support in making brand deals and partnerships happen. “I go into everything joking and thinking that everything is funny and silly and not a big deal, but this is a big deal to me because this, to me, is completely attributed to the people I work with,” Teigen said. “I think everyone in this room here knows what it’s like to work for someone or with somebody, where you create them and you are able to make this entity, to make this person. And while I will not completely dumb myself down and say I had nothing to do with it, it’s just incredible what people can do for other people. I think that what I do is fun and awesome and I have a good time with it, but it would be nothing without you guys.” Teigen’s outspoken personality hasn’t always made brand partnerships easy, and onstage Teigen expressed her appreciation and respect for the brands that have stood with her from the get-go, even when her political and occasionally foul-mouthed personality made some companies uncomfortable. “When people understand what your personality can be, that’s an honor,” she said. Legend, for his part, said Teigen’s “combination of fierceness, blended with wit, humor and the refusal to take yourself too seriously” would always be an asset for partners. “You were always worried that brands would never hire someone as unpredictable, as unfiltered, as filthy-mouthed as you,” Legend said. “But then they all realized what I’ve known for years, that it would be a privilege and an honor for them to bask in your brilliance, your candor, your hilarity, your beautiful visionary mind.” And Teigen, before stepping offstage, offered up one more tongue-in-cheek pitch for the marketers in the room. “If anyone here wants to hire someone like me, I’m here—that’s what I do!”