Courtney Stodden is taking a look back and calling out the atrocious way men treated her when she was just a teenager!
As Perezcious readers will recall, Courtney was just 16 when she married 51-year-old Doug Hutchinson, whom she finally divorced in 2020. She has since been fighting to end legal child marriage laws in California to protect children. Hard to imagine that’s even still a fight to be had, but sadly, it is! Earlier this month, Court celebrated a step in the right direction in California with the unanimous passing of AB 1267 by the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee.
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As part of her activism work, the 31-year-old has been calling out the men who wronged her in the past.
For starters, she put Jason Alexander on blast for making widely inappropriate jokes about her when she was just 17. Around 2009, the actor created a character named Donny Clay, who was described as “the 4th leading motivational speaker in the world.” He was inspired by the likes of Dr. Phil. In a Funny or Die skit in 2012, Jason — as this character — appeared with Courtney and Doug. See:
Sharing a photo from the video, Courtney reflected:
“I was 17 years old in this photo. The older I get, the more impossible this is to understand. During this comedy sketch, Jason Alexander repeatedly rubbed his phone across my breasts while saying there was ‘no signal’ in my head but ‘plenty of signal’ in my chest.”
It got worse, too, she continued:
“Later in the sketch, he joked that when I turned 18 he’d like to take me behind the couch and ‘have his way’ with me.”
Ew.
Courtney blasted Jason and all others involved:
“IMDb credits him as one of the writers of the episode. As an adult, that fact has become harder — not easier – for me to understand. I was a minor. I didn’t have the legal power to decide whether I wanted to participate. The contracts were signed by adults. The paycheck went to Doug. The production moved forward. I was the only child in the room. I felt so alone.”
She also clarified for skeptics:
“Looking back now, I don’t see comedy. I see a 17-year-old girl whose body became part of an adult joke. People still say, ‘You chose to be there.’ Legally, I couldn’t make those decisions for myself. That’s the point. I can’t change what happened to me but I can ask myself: How did so many adults look at a minor and decide this was acceptable? That’s exactly why I speak out today. Children deserve laws that protect them. They shouldn’t have to become adults before realizing the law should have protected them all along.”
Even if she had been 18 at the time, this kind of behavior never should’ve been happening! We’re SO sorry she had to endure that.
Courtney also took aim at Dr. Drew in late June, sharing screenshots of her time on his CW series Lifechangers. During the segment, she was brought on to have a plastic surgeon do an ultrasound to see if she had breast implants. She was 16 at the time. She said:
“Dr. Drew had me on his show when I was 16 and had me undergo an ultrasound to see if my breasts were real or if I was lying about my breasts. I wasn’t an underage girl. I was a minor trapped in a situation that I wasn’t able to get out of legally. I had no rights at the time. The money he paid me to be on the show went straight to my abuser. These photos bring up a lot of sadness for me because I see a little girl being exploited by grown men and used for views and mockery. Dr. Drew, what made you think this was a good idea? As a doctor, did you think this was actually healthy for a little girl to experience? Did you even care? @drdrewpinsky”
Call ’em out!!!
On Monday, Courtney shared her passion for changing the laws, explaining:
“the world met me as an image before it ever cared to know me as a person. for years, other people’s ideas of me were louder than my own voice. they looked at a girl and created a symbol, a spectacle, a story they could sell. but a woman is not a thing, and she is not the worst thing that happened to her. i don’t want to be remembered only as the child the world watched. i want to be remembered as the woman who made the world look again. i cannot rewrite my childhood, but i can spend the rest of my life helping rewrite the future for children who deserve more freedom, more protection, and more choices than i had. beauty may introduce a woman to the world, but purpose is what allows her to outlive it. the world met me as a headline. i hope history remembers me as a turning point.”
She is fighting such a good fight! We’re glad to see her work is already leading to positive change and hope even more laws can be changed to protect future generations!
Thoughts?? Let us know (below)!
[Image via Funny or Die/Dr. Drew/YouTube & Courtney Stodden/Instagram]