Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchison: A Relationship Timeline

When 16-year-old Courtney Stodden married 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison in 2011, their relationship became an immediate media obsession. He already had two ex-wives and was known for playing sadistic villains in The X-Files and The Green Mile. She wasn't well known yet at all, but she had released some songs and hoped Hutchison's acting workshop might help her achieve her dreams of stardom. 

They said they fell in love over email and married less than six months after their first correspondence—in Las Vegas, with her mother's permission. They spent much of their married life trying to prove that age was just a number. 

Both faced relentless online bullying, and while his acting career took a nosedive, she became a tabloid star. Fifteen years and one divorce later, Stodden still makes headlines. 

Stodden, a 16-year-old pageant contestant, model and aspiring singer from Tacoma, Wash., was encouraged by a friend of Krista Keller, her mother, to sign up for Hutchison's acting workshop. 

Hutchinson and Stodden began emailing, and the emails became flirtatious before they met in person. He believed Stodden was in her twenties based on her photo, but Keller informed him of Stodden's actual age. Hutchison told ABC News that it was "a struggle inside my heart" to learn her true age, because he had "already started falling for her." Keller claims to have monitored the emails and told The Daily Beast they were "beautiful, loving, nonsexual." 

According to Keller, Hutchison offered to step away from Stodden until she was 18, but Keller suggested that they should just get married instead. Keller said she could tell her daughter had real love with Hutchison and knew Stodden couldn't marry just anybody. "Even though she was just 16, I knew it was going to take a pretty big man to handle her because of her sexuality and because of the attention she gets," Keller said. 

They married in Las Vegas and honeymooned at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, and Hutchison subsequently was dropped by his management team. Keller said she became his new manager. 

It took a month for the marriage to be reported on, but the couple told E! that they wanted to make it known that "true love can be ageless." Stodden was reportedly called names on the street by strangers while Hutchison was called a predator. 

Stodden and Hutchison appeared on numerous TV shows to defend their relationship and explain how it came to be. Their July 16 ABC News appearance went viral for Stodden's odd behavior and mouth movements, with some accusing her of being drunk or on drugs. She revealed she had saved herself for marriage and said that God had given her the "gift" of her "soulmate." 

"What's too young is against the law," Hutchison said. "What we've done, we've done nothing illegally, immorally." 

Nevada laws actually changed in 2019 to make it illegal for anyone under 17 years of age to marry. Plus, any 17-year-old who wants to get married has to be a Nevada resident and prove that they have a reasonable age difference and significant reason to get married before the age of 18. 

In October 2011, Stodden and Hutchison were kicked out of a pumpkin patch for Stodden's allegedly inappropriate outfit and behavior, and in November, reality TV star Dr. Drew had Stodden take a live ultrasound on stage to prove her breasts were real. 

While Stodden and Hutchison never starred in their own reality show, they were cast members on VH1's Couples Therapy with Dr. Jenn Berman. The couple's age difference (and the fact that Stodden wasn't even 18 yet) caused a lot of tension both within the cast and their marriage, but it was Stodden's refusal to follow the dress code that got them kicked off the show. "I'm an activist for bullying," she told Berman. "I guess you could call me the 21st century Erin Brockovich." 

Berman told Access Hollywood that after working with the couple, as uncomfortable as she was by their age difference, she didn't see Hutchison as a predator. 

After Couples Therapy, Stodden joined season 12 of Celebrity Big Brother in the U.K. She lasted 21 days before being evicted two days prior to the finale. 

Just a few months after Stodden's solo stint on Big Brother, it was reported that the couple was separating after two and a half years of marriage. Stodden told E! News that their age was the primary factor, saying, "When I was 16, I got my marriage license instead of my driver’s license, come on!”

By August 2014, they were back together and had plans to renew their vows. 

As Stodden's 21st birthday approached in August 2015, she decided to make and sell a solo sex tape for charity. Her mother, who had been working as her "momager," stepped down during an apparent feud with her daughter over "creative differences." 

Keller told RadarOnline that there were "external influences" keeping her and her daughter apart, while Hutchison signed on as Stodden's new manager. Meanwhile, Keller found a new client in TV talk show host John Kerwin and explored the possibility of adopting the 42-year-old man in order to become his momager. 

In early 2016, Keller and Stodden appeared together on Lifetime's The Mother/Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition. Keller expressed regrets about allowing Stodden to marry Hutchison and admitted that she and Hutchison had an emotional affair around the time he and Stodden were separated. 

In May 2016, Stodden announced she was four weeks pregnant, and she and Hutchison celebrated the happy news and their fifth anniversary with a vow renewal. In July, she experienced a pregnancy loss, which had a marked effect on their marriage. 

Stodden and Hutchison separated in late 2016, but no divorce papers were signed until March 2018. In January 2018, amid a public battle with depression and anxiety, Stodden posted an Instagram video begging for reconciliation, but their separation continued. 

Their divorce was wasn't finalized until March 2020, but in the meantime, Stodden started dating producer Chris Sheng and starred in and produced the 2019 reality show Courtney. 

In April 2019, she told BuzzFeed News that she was taking her time with the divorce because she still loved Hutchison. 

“I know that I love him so much, and I think he’s also ingrained in me because I was 16,” she said. “He has his thumbprint all over my spirit, and that part is hard for me to grow out of. He’s in my identity. If he wasn’t the person he is, I would say absolutely he took advantage of me. But the situation was so unique, right or wrong.”

Hutchison, meanwhile, appeared in a 2019 episode of the CW show iZombie and the 2020 movie Hope For the Holidays—two of the few onscreen roles he's had since marrying Stodden. 

In the years since her divorce was finalized, Stodden has spoken at length about her experience as a teen bride and has explored her post-divorce identity in myriad ways. 

She recalled being cyberbullied by Chrissy Teigen and accused Hutchison of grooming and abuse in a lengthy interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast in March 2022. Hutchison hasn't publicly responded to the allegations. She also explained that her odd behavior in early interviews was actually due to Tourette Syndrome. 

In 2024, Stodden married Jared Safier. The next year, she narrated and produced the Lifetime movie I Was a Child Bride: The Courtney Stodden Story. She is currently working on her memoir and regularly teams with PETA on an anti-leather campaign. She is also actively working to end child marriage in the U.S. 

Hutchison is reportedly appearing in the upcoming movie Escape from Black Water.