When opening up about the terrible encounter she had in Virginia a decade ago, the 'Bring the Funny' judge notes how important it is for her and her husband to teach their children about being treated differently.

• Sep 9, 2020

AceShowbiz - Model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen still shudders at a "scary" encounter she and now-husband John Legend once had with a pair of racist white men in Virginia a decade ago.

The couple was driving through a "nicer neighbourhood" in Fredericksburg one night to find the home of the R&B singer's godmother back in 2010 when the stars were confronted by two "neighbourhood watch-type" guys, who used intimidation tactics to try and scare them off.

"These two guys were in a pickup truck slowly tailing us, flashing their lights and trying to speak to us," Chrissy recalled to Marie Claire magazine. "When we pulled over, they were like, 'What are you guys looking for?' and we gave them the address."

"They literally said, 'Get your a**es out of here!' and proceeded to follow us all the way into her driveway," she continued, fighting back tears. "They got out of the car and stared at us as we knocked on the door and went inside. It was a terrible, scary experience.

"That was my first taste of seeing what happens to black men everyday. It was horrifying and could have gone wrong so quickly."

The run-in left Chrissy "sobbing afterward for hours", but John was unfazed - and it quickly dawned on her why.

"I noticed John wasn't emotional about it," she shared. "Seeing that he wasn't very thrown by it was really upsetting because he obviously had experienced it before."

The close call, and the ongoing Black Lives Matter demonstrations, have made Chrissy hyper-aware of how important it is for the couple to teach its children all about racism - and how to best handle complicated situations.

Chrissy, who is expecting their third child, explained, "There are books that I read when I became a mum 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. But regardless of money or status, they're always going to have their skin colour."

"When it comes to them being treated differently because of the colour 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 colour is black," 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."

The stars share daughter Luna, four, and two-year-old son Miles. They announced the news of Chrissy's third pregnancy last month.