Courtney Stodden Says She Was "Manipulated" Into Marrying at Age 16

The year was 2011. Obama was still in his first term, LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” was one of the most popular songs in America, and a 16-year-old named Courtney Stodden had just wed 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison, who is perhaps still best known for having married a 16-year-old girl back in 2011.

Suffice to say, the early 2010s were a different time, and while the eyebrow-raising age gap briefly dominated the news cycle, much of the coverage was focused on poking fun at Stodden’s blonde bombshell Playboy aesthetic and presumed reality TV ambitions instead of the fact that a middle-aged man literally married a child.

Flash-forward nearly a decade, and Stodden herself is finally calling BS on the situation. In a lengthy Instagram caption announcing her official divorce from Hutchison, the now-25-year-old opened up about her “lonely, dark” experience as a teen bride.

“It’s March 3rd, 2020 – today I am officially divorced from actor Doug Hutchison,” Stodden wrote in the caption of the post she shared on Tuesday. “It’s an emotional day for me. God only knows how he’s feeling, but I can tell you that it’s for the better.”

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It’s March 3rd, 2020 – today I am officially divorced from actor Doug Hutchison. It’s an emotional day for me. God only knows how he’s feeling, but I can tell you that it’s for the better. I look back at this picture and feel absolutely taken advantage of. I’ve been scared to even speak up about feeling groomed or being verbally abused during the almost 10 year marriage because I was a child and he was 50 when we married but I’m a woman now and it’s time for me to put my big girl pants on and speak on this matter. I’ve felt completely trapped, manipulated and at times abandoned by adults // growing up in such an environment — it became a lonely and dark place. Stay tuned for my book. And to Doug… I’ll always love you; yet I’ll always be angry. You’ve left me — a child woman, feeling belittled and confused. These things I shall overcome. I wish you well. But please don’t ever do this to another minor again. It’s not right… even if the parent signs off. Wait a respectable amount of time before marrying. Children aren’t on your level. I’ll always love you regardless. Be better. As shall I.

A post shared by Courtney Stodden (@courtneyastodden) on Mar 3, 2020 at 12:11pm PST

Stodden’s caption accompanied a photo of the actor kissing her on the cheek. “I look back at this picture and feel absolutely taken advantage of,” she wrote. “I’ve been scared to even speak up about feeling groomed or being verbally abused during the almost 10 year marriage because I was a child and he was 50 when we married but I’m a woman now and it’s time for me to put my big girl pants on and speak on this matter. I’ve felt completely trapped, manipulated and at times abandoned by adults // growing up in such an environment — it became a lonely and dark place.”

Stodden also briefly announced that she is working on a book before ending the post with a message for her ex.

“And to Doug… I’ll always love you; yet I’ll always be angry,” she wrote. “I wish you well. But please don’t ever do this to another minor again. It’s not right… even if the parent signs off. Wait a respectable amount of time before marrying. Children aren’t on your level. I’ll always love you regardless. Be better. As shall I.”

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