VIDEO Courtney Stodden’s mom Krista explains why she let her 16-year-old daughter marry a 51-year-old old man
Courtney Stodden wouldn’t be world known if her parents didn’t allow her to marry 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchison before she became of legal age. On Couples Therapy, Dr. Jen Berman invited Courtney’s mom in to ask her how these events transpired, and why Courtney dresses so provocatively.
The interview ended up a bit strange because I guess most people aren’t like Krista and Courtney. One thing that came to light that may explain some of this situation is that Krista seems to have something on a crush on Dough Hutchison. She was with her daughter every step of the way through her email romance with Doug, so she was deeply involved in the romance in a way most moms never are. Krista saw this involvement as “protecting” her daughter, but it seems like there have been boundaries crossed here. She also allowed her daughter to cross boundaries by getting married while she was legally still a child.
Krista also says that she’d been used to fighting men off of her daughter for a while as there were tons of cops, lawyers and sheiks tracking down Courtney after catches a glimpse of her. That’s right, she said sheiks.
What was Courtney like as a child?
“She was so. . . always dancing, always singing, just twirling around, twirling around, and Courtney’s been dancing ever since.”
How she did she start dressing so provocatively?
“It started with a pair of shoes, and we went to the shoe store at 11 or 12, and she goes ‘I like these shoes.’ And I thought ‘You know what? She’s probably being kind of a little bit different.’ And the rest is history.”
Help me understand how Courtney got from a pair of high shoes when she was 11 to skirts so short that her underwear shows, bare midriff, boobs hangin’ out?
“I felt that she was a child, you know, teen, that felt that she had to express herself somehow, some way. And to me this was manageable, and that’s just what her thing was.”
So it wasn’t enough to express herself through music or acting?
“That too. It’s all connected. I feel that this is how God created her. He put these desires in her. She knows what she wants, and she doesn’t let anybody talk her in or out of anything. I can tell ya that girl has a strong, strong mind.
She was not allowed to go out on a date. She was allowed to have boys over at the house, but I had to be there. She was not allowed to go out in a car with a boy alone.”
Were you worried about sex?
“Not really about that too much, I’m just an overprotective parent.
My friend’s sister actually does some work here in Hollywood, and is very good friends with Doug, and knew that Courtney was interested in some acting classes, and said ‘You know, I can hook you up with an actor in Hollywood.’ So Doug was emailing, and then they continued emailing back and forth, and I was reading all the emails that were coming in because I wanted to make sure, you know, she’s talking to this guy, and he didn’t know I was reading them. It was so impressive to me that he was so genuine, and caring, and loving, and I could see why she was falling for him. And then he called me and said “I need to work out something about getting her down here.” and I go “but she’s only 16,” and he’s like “What?” But I think he had already started to fall for her.”
Were you sensing that this was an adult man that was falling for your 16-year-old child?
“Yeah, I did. I did.”
And did you know his age?
“I didn’t even think about looking at his age.”
But you knew he was an adult man. You knew he wasn’t a 17-year-old kid.
“There was a lot of them that were trying to get ahold of her, you know. We had police officers, and we had sheiks, and attorneys that were trying to get ahold of her all the time, and it’s not like I wasn’t used to . . because she looks so much older.”
But here you are overseeing the romantic development between your 16-year-old teenage child and a 51-year-old man, why didn’t you put the breaks on it right there?
“Because Courtney’s different than other girls her age. And I knew she was gonna need somebody that could handle her, and I recognized it. I recognized that this is the man that’s perfect for her.”
So they had been talking on the phone and emailing for five months?
“Maybe six.”
And he shows up for his first visit, and is that when he proposed?
“No, like the next evening.”
So, you’ve turned over what is most precious to you, your daughter, to a man that you didn’t know yourself.
“Yeah. I just made peace with that because sure, we could have said ‘You have to wait til you’re 18 to marry him, or to be with him,’ but I’m a free spirit, I think out of the box. I feel like just because a man is a certain age, doesn’t make him horrible. It’s not the first time it had ever happened, and I know that from history.”
But it’s one this with history, it’s a whole other thing when it’s your daughter.
“That’s right.”
That’s being, some might say, “groomed,” by a man in his early 50s.
“There was no grooming going on because she was pursuing him. She felt close to him, and they have a lot in common. It was a beautiful thing to watch. I am the one that signed that paper, and I am the one that gave my daughter permission to marry this man, and I have never regretted that to this day!”
It’s very clear to me how much you adore Doug, and I know that you and your husband have separated. Is Doug the kind of person who, as a now single woman, that you would have wanted to date?
“He’s got a lot of qualities, I’m not gonna lie to you. And so I want my daughter to have things that I can appreciate for her to have. Any woman would love the qualities that that man has. He is a fabulous man. Fabulous.”
Here’s the full episode:
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Couples Therapy, Couples Therapy 2
This isn’t the last we’ve seen of Krista, she told The Huffington Post that she’s trying to pitch a “Momager” type reality show for herself and Courtney.
One of her first momager tasks? Start getting cash for Courtney’s interviews.