- Courtney Stodden revisited her marriage to Doug Hutchison in an Instagram post.
- Stodden said she was “emotionally still a child” when she married Hutchison at 16.
- The TV personality is now married to filmmaker Jared Safie
Over a decade after her highly publicised marriage to actor Doug Hutchison, television personality Courtney Stodden is revisiting the experience.
In an Instagram statement posted on Wednesday, Stodden talked about marrying Hutchison in 2011 when she was 16 years old and he was 51. The post marked 15 years since the relationship first became global tabloid material with Stodden now describing herself as “a child surviving adult trauma in plain sight.”
The reality TV figure shared an old wedding photograph featuring the couple although Hutchison's face had been partly scratched out in the image. Alongside it, Stodden wrote about the emotional impact of entering a marriage while still a teenager.
“15 years ago today, a 16 year old girl was married off to a man 35 years older than her and the world treated her like the scandal instead of the victim. I was a virgin. Emotionally still a child.
“And too young to understand what was about to happen to me behind closed doors for years,” she wrote.
“Just because a child says ‘I do' does not mean she understands consent,” she added.
The comments came just one day before Stodden is set to undergo breast reduction surgery, something she linked directly to reclaiming ownership over her body and identity.
“For the first time in my life, my body feels like it belongs to me instead of the public that consumed it before I even became a woman. A child bride is not a love story. She's a child surviving adult trauma in plain sight,” she concluded.
Stodden has spent years in the spotlight since first appearing in entertainment circles as a pre-teen model. She began modeling at age 12 and soon became a frequent subject of celebrity gossip coverage following her marriage to Hutchison.
The couple separated in 2013 before briefly reconciling a year later. Stodden eventually filed for divorce in 2018 and the split was finalised in 2020.
Earlier this month, Stodden announced the upcoming breast reduction through another Instagram video.
Speaking casually to followers, she joked that her breasts had enjoyed a “long Hollywood run” and deserved a “graceful retirement era.” She also revealed that the operation would be performed by Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Stuart A. Linder whom she said she has trusted for years.
The surgery announcement comes less than a year after Stodden underwent a reported $20,000 rhinoplasty procedure.
Back in 2013, shortly after turning 18, Stodden underwent breast augmentation surgery and increased from a C cup to a DD size. But in 2022, she revealed to Newsweek that those implants had later been removed.
Away from the controversy surrounding her past marriage, Stodden has since moved forward personally. She began dating filmmaker Jared Safier in 2023 and the couple married during a private ceremony in Palm Springs in late 2024.