Chrissy Teigen taking Twitter break after backlash

John Legend's model wife Chrissy Teigen is taking a hiatus from Twitter.com after facing a storm of criticism for appearing to trivialise the shooting death of a soldier in Canada.

The brunette beauty came under fire on Wednesday (22Oct14) when she took to the micro-blogging site to air her thoughts about the death of a 24-year-old solider, who was killed while standing guard at a war memorial in Ottawa.

The gunman then went on a rampage in the parliament building nearby, where Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was addressing fellow politicians. He was shot dead by a ceremonial official.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Teigen tweeted, "Active shooting in Canada, or as we call it in America, Wednesday... That's not a joke. It is a fact."

Her comments irked some of her followers and led to a Twitter backlash, with many accusing the model of insensitivity and some even threatening her life.

However, Teigen refused to apologise for her statement, insisting critics had misunderstood her remarks, which she insisted was simply meant to highlight the high level of gun crime in America.

The defiant star went on to share a number of nasty, expletive-filled messages which she had received from angry Twitter followers, and added, "It's been a while since I inadvertently p**sed a ton of people off. Forgot how much it sucks."

The negative comments continued to roll in and by Thursday (23Oct14), Teigen had had enough.

She wrote, "I can't see anything through the sea of hate and anger that is now my Twitter. Seriously I can't sift through it all."

Initiating a Twitter break, she added, "I feel sick. Bye Twitter. Taking my talents to instagram".