Courtney Stodden opens up about being groomed by her ex-husband, Doug Hutchison, whom she married when she was 16 and he married when she was 51.
Stodden, who is non-binary and uses the pronouns “they/them,” spoke to Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast, in which they reminisced about their experiences with the actor “The Green Mile,” whom they met Legally divorced in 2020.
Courtney Stodden sat down with Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast to talk about how she’s being cared for by her ex-husband, Doug Hutchison, whom they married when they were 16. (Photo: Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
Stodden explained how Hutchison, who they originally met via email, was able to convince her parents that they should get married just a week after meeting in person.
“My mother got a lot of hate, and I understand why,” Stodden said. “If I ever had a baby and raised that baby, from my own experience I would never leave my child to a grown man who is 34 years older. There’s just no way this would happen. But I think she thought she was going to do something that would make me happy, really, I really think so. Looking back, she knows it was the wrong decision.”
Hutchison, who also appeared on the series Lost, initially bonded with Stodden under the guise of teaching them acting. However, Stodden claimed that his intention in beginning their relationship was really “to get a free pass to molest a child.” However, at the time, Stodden believed they were genuinely in love with the actor, despite not knowing exactly what it meant to be married.
Stodden claimed that the actor was “extremely emotionally abusive” and physically abusive during her marriage to Hutchison, which left her unable to sign legal documents. The Celebrity Big Brother star also claimed that Hutchison, who looked at her “like a kid”, had a gun in the house.
“I think that’s the ultimate power a groomer has over a child,” Stodden shared. “That emotional abuse and that control.” They continued, “I feel like I’m not even in control of my own body, my own finances. … I was just so controlled.”
Stodden clarified that they don’t believe they have Stockholm syndrome — which the Cleveland Clinic defines as a “coping mechanism for a trapped or abusive situation” — but trauma associated with Hutchison was what got them made it difficult to believe the reality of their situation.
The story goes on
Stodden, who got emotional during the interview and held back tears, said they are still healing. “It’s very, very fresh to me.” They also admitted they are in therapy and are “working through everything” and seeing things “so much more clearly.”
“When I go to sleep my dreams are so normal and when I wake up my life is so freaking crazy,” they said. “I just like to sleep most of the day,” adding that they “get hit by a lot of shit.”
The 27-year-old also revealed she has a drinking problem and struggles with eating disorders and poor body image. “You see yourself from every angle in the media and it totally shook me,” they recalled. “So I got my boobs done right when I turned 18. … I wanted to be the woman everyone expected me to be.” However, they said they were “so willing to pull her out.” “I loved having them, I’m not against plastic surgery. If you want to do something with your body, that’s your damn choice, but my back feels like a 90-year-old woman.”
Stodden, who is now free from Hutchison, told Cooper they want to make sure people know their situation isn’t all that unusual in the United States.
“About 300,000 children, minor children, were married to adults between the years 2000 to 2018,” they explained. “And 86% of those kids are girls. That’s in this country. We think child brides are a foreign situation, but it is in the US at the moment. Some are only 10 years old.”
Stodden also spoke about being bullied by the likes of Chrissy Teigen, who recently came under fire after tweets resurfaced telling Stodden to take a “dirt nap.” Stodden claimed they never spoke personally to Teigen, who issued a public apology.
“I wasn’t a child bride. I was a kid being exploited,” Stodden explained. “I think that’s something people should think about.”
Stodden previously opened up about this misunderstanding in a 2020 Instagram post celebrating her 26th birthday. At the time, the reality star wrote: “Ten years ago I turned 16. Nothing could have prepared me for what was around the corner. I had the mind of a child, the body of a teenager, and I was a virgin. However, to everyone around me it seemed that I was a woman who had grown up and was able to make my own decisions. According to many, I was “mature” enough to date men my father’s age (or older) and eventually marry one.”
Stodden, who is a 27-year-old animal advocate and is currently writing a memoir about her experience, got engaged to Chris Sheng in 2021.
In his Instagram post about the engagement, Sheng wrote, “I feel so blessed and happy. We’ve both grown so much since we first met, and the fact that we’ve both been able to grow into better, stronger, and more secure individuals while still being in a relationship with each other makes me believe that this partnership will last a lifetime.”
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