Courtney Stodden dubs ex-husband Doug Hutchison a ‘predator’, claims he KNEW she was underage
Model Courtney Stodden has spoken about their ex-husband Doug Hutchison, whom they married as a 16-year-old while he was about to turn 51 in May 2011. Calling him a “predator,” the 27-year-old claimed that he not just abused them emotionally and physically but also controlled everything.
Stodden identifies as a non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. After living with the 61-year-old character actor for years, they decided to file for divorce and finally got legally separated in 2020. On the ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast with Alex Cooper, Stodden revealed that Hutchison approached them via email pretending to be an acting coach.
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They said: “My manager at the time sent him pictures, and he was very much aware of what I looked like. But he claims...he never knew my age. That's not true. He did. My mom received a call from him, and he said, ‘I really want to start teaching your daughter acting,’ and she goes, ‘OK, well, you know she's only...she just turned 16.’”
Stodden noted that their mother knew about the email exchange between them and the ‘A Time to Kill’ actor. They continued, “Then, as a child, I didn't really see it as anything predatory,” before saying Hutchison used to ask them questions, like “What's your favorite color?” and “Where do you see yourself in five years?” The media personality then stated, “Now I know in retrospect it's just a way to start figuring out the child and to get your claws in them and control them.”
Stodden also mentioned their mother, who signed off on their marriage, during the podcast and said, “My mom has gotten a lot of hate, and I understand why. If I ever have a baby and I’m raising that baby, from my own experiences, I would never sign my kid off, ever, to an adult man, who is 34 years older. There is just no way that would happen. But I think she thought she was doing something that was going to make me happy, truthfully. I really believe that. In retrospect, she knows it was the wrong decision. She's apologized to me so many times and has said, you know, ‘If I could just do anything to do over, I'm just so sorry, I wouldn't sign off on this.’”
Speaking with Cooper, the singer revealed they met Hutchison just a week before their wedding in their hometown, Washington, before that they were only connected via email and phone calls for six months. They said, “I believe [that trip] was obviously to see his child in person, verify the parents are on-board. ‘I’m not going to go to jail, and I can get that free pass to molest a child. I just need that paperwork signed for me to get married because it’s a loophole.’ Then a week later we got married. So I basically just met him in person one week, and then a week later I’m married.”
Stodden also said that their mother-father had arguments before their marriage. “I knew he was arguing with my mom. I could hear them screaming throughout the house, but I just think he gives up so quickly. That’s just the kind of person he is. He just runs away from issues. So it just makes sense why this happened, and it happens to so many other children in the USA. About 300,000 children, underage children, were married to adults between the years of 2000 and 2018, and 86 percent of those children are girls.”
They told Cooper: “And it’s in this country. We think of child brides as some foreign situation, but it is so prevalent in the USA right now, and it’s terrifying. And some are as young as 10 years old. I think it’s pretty obvious that [Hutchison] looked at me like a child but wanted to treat me like some kind of object.”
Stodden recalled their honeymoon at the penthouse at the famed Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, where they were given wine before the intercourse. They said: “I take my bra off. I was wearing [one of] those Bombshell Victoria’s Secret bras. Do you remember that? It's like two big cup sizes. And then inside of that, I had a cutlet. So they were like [big]. And I was so freaked out to undress because I’m like, he’s just not going to love me like this. Like I look like a kid. I looked like a 12-year-old with my clothes off. Little did I know it was a fantastic night for him. But I was a complete nervous wreck.”
Stodden accused her ex-husband of being “extremely emotionally abusive to me”. They said, “At times physical, but mostly emotionally abusive. Because I think that’s the ultimate power a groomer has over a child, is that emotional abuse and control.” They also disclosed: “I was raped a few times when I left him, and I’d go back to him and he’s just kind of like, ‘Well, what do you expect? You left me. I’m the one who loves you. I’m the one who takes care of you.’ And so that’s why it took so long.”
Stodden explained, “The media's always wondering why it takes so long. That’s what was happening, this abuse, this emotional abuse. I think, too, like so many victims and survivors blame ourselves. We blame ourselves because we think it’s our fault, but the full picture is the abuser is the one who is controlling that. It’s not your fault at all — and I wish I could have told myself these things in those moments,” before adding: “I was not a child bride. I was a child who was exploited. I think that is something people should think about.”
During the podcast, Stodden also claimed that Hutchison approached a 15-year-old girl in the UK after they left him. They said, “I have all of the proof. I have all of the emails. I got connected with an ex-assault victim and he was doing the same thing to another 15-year-old girl while I was going through this process. I found out through a stepmother who reached out to me on Instagram, and I just can’t tell you how much that broke me, even after all of the control. I felt like I didn’t have any control over my own body, my own finances. I couldn’t sign any legal documents in that marriage. I couldn’t sign off on my own marriage, I was just so controlled.”
They explained, “But then I think that there’s this trauma bond that happens when you’re that age, right? I don’t want to say I had Stockholm Syndrome, but there’s this grooming. It’s the mental effects of grooming, where I didn’t want to believe. A few people would reach out [to warn me], and I just didn’t want to believe it. It’s not how he made me feel. He made me feel really, really special, and unique. I just really believed him, and then just finding out everything it’s just…horrible. And then reading that he’s ready to marry another minor. I just helped with the attorneys there [so they could] get this little girl away from him. It just became my mission because I know exactly what he was doing.”