Tragic Details About Courtney Stodden

Note: this article discusses grooming, sexual assault, and miscarriage

Many will recognize Courtney Stodden as the person who was married to actor Doug Hutchinson when they were 16 and he was 51, but that is merely part of the picture in the story that is their life. Stodden is a model, television personality, and an outspoken PETA advocate. Since their divorce from Hutchinson was finalized in 2020, Stodden has gone on to dip their toe into many different pools of possibility.

In 2021, the model came out as nonbinary while on the journey to finding themselves and began utilizing they/them pronouns. When speaking to People in April 2021, they expressed: "When I look at myself in the mirror, I see a human being so far away from norms, misogyny [and] labels. I live by my own rules now." Since Stodden began living by their terms, they were able to find their happily ever after. They got engaged to director and producer Jared Safier in June 2024 and tied the knot that December. "I want to be a good wife," they told People once freshly engaged, continuing, "I am very hopeful for my happy ending." It's safe to say the "Celebrity Big Brother U.K." alum endured their fair share of grief and heartache to make it to their fairytale end, including another failed engagement. Here are some tragic details about Courtney Stodden.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

The infamous story of Doug Hutchinson and his child bride, Courtney Stodden, officially came to an end when their divorce was finalized in 2020 after nine years of abuse and exploitation. To bring it back to the beginning, Stodden met "The Green Mile" actor during a workshop he was hosting. During a joint interview with "Good Morning America" in 2011, the pair detailed their interactions when they first met, but when Stodden revealed their age, Hutchinson's "world turned upside down. ... It didn't make me want to walk away, but it definitely was a struggle inside my heart ... because I had already started falling for her." Here's the real kicker, the actor proceeded to ask Stodden's parents for their blessing, and even crazier, they granted it. "I said, Krista, I don't know if you know this or not, but your daughter and I are falling in love," adding that they would cease their relationship if their parents did not approve.

The couple tied the knot in Las Vegas in May 2011, thanks to their mother's signature, but the story was just beginning. They were separated multiple times throughout their marriage, with Stodden filing for divorce in 2018 and it being finalized two years later. Stodden has been forced to reflect on their experience and was able to process the abuse they faced at the hands of Hutchinson while writing their memoir. "It has shined a light on the grooming and what happened to me and what actually happens to a lot of other children in the USA as well," they admitted to Fox News in April 2022, "Experiences that are traumatizing can either break us or we can utilize them to shape us into a stronger individual. ... I want past victims and survivors to really tap into that part of themselves."

Many factors contributed to Courtney Stodden's decision to divorce Doug Hutchinson, but the straw that broke the camel's back came when they tried to grow their family. Back in July 2016, Stodden suffered from a miscarriage when they were about three months pregnant. During an episode of "Allegedly with Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss," the singer revealed the strain that the loss put on their marriage. "I think when a couple faces a difficult trial in life together, whatever that may be, it either tears you apart or brings you together. I think right now we're kind of in the kind of crossroad point where we're trying to figure it out." Not long after that, the couple was legally separated in 2017 and Stodden filed the papers a year later.

Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the only time Stodden would experience unimaginable loss. The model took to Instagram in a now-deleted post and revealed they miscarried again, this time at ten weeks pregnant. They wrote in the caption (via OK! Magazine): "I'm sharing this to shine light on the fact that no matter how early a loss occurs, it's still a loss. I've tried to keep this to myself, just a few close relatives and friends know but I thought it was important to just accept the fact and hopefully find some peace as there is strength in numbers."

Not only did Courtney Stodden face unimaginable abuse from their husband, but the time they took away from him would prove itself to also be abysmal. During an interview on "The Tomorrow Show with Keven Undergaro" at the height of the #MeToo movement in March 2018, Stodden revealed that one of the times they were separated they were sexually abused twice.

Stodden didn't reveal much about the series of events that they underwent, as they had already been reliving years of trauma and abuse by putting pen to paper for a new memoir; but they recounted their mindset at the time. "At that age — I was only 19 when my first experience happened," they said (via People). "I didn't really think it was wrong, which is the crazy part. I felt like, 'Okay, well that's how sex is,'" they admitted, continuing to express that since they had only been intimate with Doug Hutchinson, they never told him about the incident. "

I really didn't realize it was, you know, sexual abuse, until I started hearing these women talking. It wasn't until #MeToo started that I was like, 'Wow, maybe that wasn't OK.' So yeah, it's really a sad thing, but it happens all the time.'" They then went on to release a single titled "Me Too" in honor of their experiences both in and out of their marriage to Hutchinson. Now that's what we like to call taking back the power!

Being in such a controversial marriage is bound to come with its fair share of backlash, and one of Stodden's "Couples Therapy" co-stars didn't hold back. In a 2012 interview with The Huffington Post, Nik Richie revealed Stodden's character behind closed doors. "Courtney made sexual advances at me every time we were alone in the house. She didn't care — she even did it in front of Doug and he was cool with it. It got so bad I had to have a meeting with producers to tell her to stop because I didn't want to go to jail," he continued to make more severe claims, "Courtney doesn't love Doug — she is too young and too high on meds to even know what love is. I get the feeling she is hiding a lot of dark secrets."

It's safe to say that Courtney Stodden didn't expect their ex-husband to be one of the figures putting them on blast, but never say never. During a 2020 interview with Fox News to promote his book, "Flushing Hollywood: Fake News, Fake Boobs," Doug Hutchinson revealed that they had to get creative when finances were getting low.

"Honestly, I didn't even know if we could have paid the rent the next month. It got that severe. So Courtney came up with a strategy. I don't blame her for this. I don't blame her for anything," he said, upon revealing that Stodden's 2016 pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage were entirely made up in attempts of a cash grab. The TV personality never released a statement regarding either of these instances, but whether or not they are true, airing out someone's dirty laundry online, without their permission, is wholly damaging and can certainly take its toll.

Courtney Stodden faced a lot of scrutiny when their relationship was first making headlines. Many people in the public chose to air out their grievances with them by name-calling and slut-shaming, and some of those hateful words came from an A-lister. Some may remember the apology tour Chrissy Teigen went on after relentlessly bullying people on X (formerly Twitter), with one of her victims being Stodden.

Back in March 2021, Teigen announced that she would be taking a break from the "negativity" on the platform, and the statement was met with Stodden coming forward about the things she had said to them online. "She wouldn't just publicly tweet about wanting me to take 'a dirt nap' but would privately DM me and tell me to kill myself. Things like, 'I can't wait for you to die,'" they revealed to The Daily Beast in 2021. Teigen also Tweeted publicly about Stodden, as a TMZ article resurfaced tweets like "i hate you" and "What drug makes you do that with your mouth?"

Since she got called out, Teigen administered a now-deleted public apology specifically to Stodden, "I was an insecure, attention seeking troll. I am ashamed and completely embarrassed at my behavior but that is nothing compared to how I made Courtney feel." Stodden then responded to this via Instagram and accepted her apology, but wrote that they weren't sure if Teigen's motivations were pure. "I accept her apology and forgive her. But the truth remains the same, I have never heard from her or her camp in private. In fact, she blocked me on Twitter. All of me wants to believe this is a sincere apology, but it feels like a public attempt to save her partnerships with Target and other brands who are realizing her 'wokeness' is a broken record."