Courtney Stodden talks about being groomed by their ex-husband Doug Hutchison, whom they married when they were 16 and he was 51.
Stodden, who is non-binary and uses de / dem pronouns, talked to Alex Cooper about Call her Dad podcast where they remembered their experience with That Green Mil actor as they were legally divorced in 2020.
Stodden explained how Hutchison, whom they originally met via email, was able to convince their parents that they should get married just a week after meeting in person.
“My mother has had a lot of hatred, and I understand why,” Stodden said. “If I ever had a baby and I was raising that baby, from my own experience, I would never overwrite my child to an adult man who is 34 years older. There’s just no way it would happen. But I think “She thought she was doing something that would make me happy, really, I really believe in that. In hindsight, she knows it was the wrong decision.”
Hutchison, who also appeared in the show Lost, first associated with Stodden under the guise of teaching them about acting. Stodden, however, claimed that his intent to start their relationship was actually to “get a free card to abuse a child.” At the time, however, Stodden believed that they were really in love with the actor, despite the fact that they did not quite know what it meant to be married.
Stodden claimed that the actor during their marriage to Hutchison, where they were unable to sign any legal documents, was “extremely emotionally violent” as well as physically violent. That The big brother of celebrity Star also claimed that Hutchison, who looked at them “like a child”, had a gun in the house.
“I think it’s the ultimate power a groomer has over a child,” Stodden said. “The emotional abuse and control.” They continued, “I feel like I did not even have control over my own body, my own finances. … I was just so controlled.”
Stodden clarified that they did not believe they had Stockholm syndrome – which is defined by the Cleveland Clinic as “a coping mechanism for a captivity or abuse situation” – but were traumatic about Hutchison, making it difficult for them to believe in the reality of their situation.
Stodden, who was emotionally charged and held back tears during the interview, said they are still healing. “It’s very, very fresh for me.” They also admitted that they are in therapy and “processing all this” and see things “so much more clearly.”
“When I go to bed, my dreams are so normal and then I wake up, my life is so insane,” they said. “I just like to sleep most of the day,” adding that they are “haunted by a lot of shit.”
The 27-year-old also revealed that she had an alcohol problem and was struggling with eating disorders and poor body image. “You see yourself from all angles in the media, and it shattered me completely,” they remembered. “So I got my breasts done right when I turned 18. … I wanted to be the woman everyone expected me to be.” But they said they were “so ready to get them out.” “I loved having them, I’m not against plastic surgery. If you want to do something about your body, it’s your damn choice, but my back feels like a 90-year-old woman.”
Now free from Hutchison, Stodden told Cooper they want to make sure people know their situation is not so uncommon in the United States.
“About 300,000 children, minors, were married to adults between the years 2000 to 2018,” they explained. “And 86% of those children are girls. This is in this country. We think of child brides as a foreign situation, but it’s in the US right now. Some as young as 10 years old.”
Stodden also talked about being bullied by people like Chrissy Teigen, who recently came under fire after tweets reappeared, telling Stodden that they should take a “dirt nap.” Stodden claimed they never spoke in person to Teigen, who publicly apologized.
“I was not a child molester. I was a child who was exploited,” Stodden explained. “I think it’s something people should think about.”
Stodden has previously opened up about this misunderstanding in an Instagram post from 2020, where they celebrated their 26th birthday. At the time, the reality star wrote: “Ten years ago I turned 16. Nothing could have prepared me for what was just around the corner. I had a childish mind, a teenager’s body, and I was a virgin. But it turned out for everyone around me, “that I was a woman who was an adult and able to make my own choices. According to many, I was ‘mature’ enough to date men my father’s age (or older) and eventually marry one.”
Stodden, who at 27 years old is an advocate for animal welfare and is currently writing a memoir about his experiences, got engaged to Chris Sheng in 2021.
On his Instagram post about the engagement, Sheng wrote: “I feel so blessed and lucky. We have both grown so much since we first met, and the fact that we have both been able to grow into better, stronger and more confident individuals while we are still in a relationship together make me believe that this partnership will last a lifetime. ”
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