A few days after cookbook author Alison Roman made comments about Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo that sparked an online debate, she posted an apology to her social media and went silent for 14 days. For Roman—an avid social media user who first gained acclaim for recipes that spread through word of mouth, hashtags, and Instagrammed dinner parties—the quiet was notable. When the Daily Beast later reported that her biweekly column for the New York Times had been temporarily suspended, she didn’t comment publicly. On Tuesday she returned from her social media hiatus with an Instagram post that announced a new newsletter—and set off a new set of questions about her professional life.
“This was a huge shake-up for me both personally and professionally, and I’m still processing so much, but know that I’m working on it and thinking about it 24/7,” she wrote in a lengthy caption. “The issues brought to light by this whole thing won’t be fixed overnight, and the healing process for many will be long, but I’m committed to doing the work to make it better. As for the other kind of work, for the foreseeable future, you can find me in that newsletter I started 3 years ago and never sent out.” She directed readers to a sign-up link for her Substack account.
When contacted by the Daily Beast on May 19, the New York Times confirmed that her column was put “on temporary leave,” but did not provide a reason or a date for its return. Ultimately, Roman’s own comment also leaves the question in the air, and the Times did not immediately return Vanity Fair’s request for comment.
“It’s been my intention to navigate my career while being honest, real and unfiltered, which, of course, comes with the possibility of messing up. And I’ve messed up,” Roman wrote in her May 11 apology. “I promise I’m not putting this behind me in hopes that it goes away. I need to learn from this, and I’m going to use it as a motivation to do and be better.”
Teigen tweeted that she accepted the apology. Just over a week later, she added that she didn’t think Roman deserved to lose the column. “I don’t agree with what the NYT has done, I am not them. I didn’t call them, I didn’t write, and most of all, I’d like her back,” she wrote.