Chrishell Stause was so excited to be boning Keo Motsepe on the reg that she was excited to introduce him to her family.
Unfortunately, that meant taking him to her already sizable family gathering … while the COVID-19 pandemic rages worse than ever before.
"Introduced @keo_motsepe to the fam," Chrishell captioned a happy photo of a sizable family gathering.
"He fit right in," she added, followed by a string of joyous and affectionate emojis.
"Merry Christmas everyone from mine to yours!!!" Chrishell expressed. "Sending you all so much love."
There was just one problem, folks, but it was a glaring one.
As much as fans enjoyed the group photo, this is a large group of people hanging out indoors, maskless, and not social distancing.
Given the context of the photo, it seems apparent to fans that all nine of these pajama-clad humans in the photo likely spent the night, worsening potential COVID-19 exposure.
Fans quickly took their alarmed response to the comments below her post.
"*Edit: To those bringing up Covid concerns, I understand," Chrishell has since added to her caption.
"And," she continues, "agree this was not a good use of my platform."
"I normally always try to be socially responsible with my posts," Chrishell stresses.
She explains that she makes a conscious effort to do so "because I am naturally a compassionate person."
"I can see how this does not show that to some," Chrishell acknowledges.
"I understand you won’t agree," Chrishell writes.
"But at least so you can see where I am coming from," she continues.
"This is my immediate family," Chrishell clarifies.
"And," Chrishell adds, "we all are able to test before and after."
"This is the first Christmas without our mom," she laments. We are of course so sorry for her loss.
Chrishell explains that "we felt important to be there for each other in a tough year."
"Keo brought such welcomed happiness," Chrishell expresses about her handsome new love.
"And selfishly," she laments, "I posted in a very happy moment."
Many celebrities do irresponsible things without posting about it, or make a show of doing things more responsibly than they really have to. In this case, Chrishell did not.
"Please be safe," Chrishell implores her fans and followers.
"And," she continues, "I am sending all my love to my supporters & critics."
"I hear all of you and can appreciate feedback from both sides," Chrishell concludes.
That was a very earnest, compassionate, and diplomatic addition to her post.
Fans of course notice that Chrishell is not actually acknowledging having done anything unsafe.
Instead, she apologizes and takes responsibility for … showing the photo at all, not for the event that was photographed.
Did Chrishell do something wrong by meeting with her family.
As someone who spent Friday alone, I’m obviously inclined to say yes.
Part of the reason that this gathering was probably a mistake is that the oh-so-popular rapid COVID tests are riddled with faults.
Some families that gathered for Thanksgiving thought that they had all of the right reasons, took all of the right precautions, but found out that they didn’t — and people died.
Chrishell and her loved ones also took a risk, no matter what precautions they put into place.
We hope that all goes well for Chrishell’s family, but we all know that countless families gathered last week in celebration but will soon find themselves filled with regret and grief.
