COURTNEY Stodden’s mom has blasted a “hurtful” scene in her daughter’s new biopic and denied encouraging the model to marry actor Doug Hutchison at just 16.
Courtney, now 31, was thrust into the spotlight in the mid-2000s after tying the knot with Doug, who was 51 at the time.
Krista Keller and Courtney Stodden attend the Jayden.Suede launch event at Six01 Studio in 2012 in Los Angeles[/caption]
Doug Hutchison and Courtney Stodden attend the Muay Thai in America: In Honor Of The King – Celebrity VIP Event in Los Angeles in 2012[/caption]
They married in May 2011 in Las Vegas, with the model’s parents’ consent, which was permissible under Nevada law at the time.
The relationship sparked public outrage and made headlines around the world, while Doug was reportedly disowned by his own family.
After their divorce, Courtney, who is non-binary and goes by they/them, claimed they were groomed and exploited, which Doug has denied.
The story is being told in Lifetime’s new biopic, I Was a Child Bride: The Courtney Stodden Story, which streams from Saturday.
Courtney’s mom, Krista Keller, supports her daughter’s new film but says she was “crushed” by a scene that purports her to have encouraged the marriage.
The model was a producer, along with her new husband, Jared Safier.
In an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun, she said, “I respect my daughter, she’s brilliant, she’s talented, she’s beautiful. I have a lot of admiration for her.
“But when you have a movie made about you and your family, Lifetime has this beginning statement that they added things to it to make it more dramatic, and there’s one scene that really, really bothered me.
“It was really hard for me to watch. It really made me sad.
“It was me actually entering her bedroom and telling her, ‘Courtney, I know you and Doug are getting close, and you guys are talking about marriage, and you’re three months from 17. You really can’t date him at this age, because, you know, it’s illegal.
“‘The only way is that you’d have to be married, and that I wouldn’t be legally responsible for this.’
“It’s showing me really strong-arming her and going, ‘Yes Courtney, you want to do this, right? Right, Courtney?’ And that just never happened.
“I never made that decision for her. I didn’t talk her into it. I wish I would have talked her out of it. And, you know, wait till you’re 18. And we wouldn’t be in this situation.
“It’s like, this happened, I think, 14 years ago. And it just never seems to go away.
“It’s a story that people are just so interested in all the time.
“I did talk with the writers quite a bit, and I did talk with them about different things, because they had questions for me, and they were lovely.
“But Lifetime … that’s why they have that disclaimer at the beginning, so they can add drama to it.
“And, you know, it’s okay with the other scenes if they needed to add this or that, but that particular scene was very hurtful to watch. It just crushed me, because again, it never happened.
“And I just kind of want to set the record straight.”
She added, “I did not force or even manipulate my daughter into this marriage.”
Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchison are seen at The Grove in Los Angeles, California. in 2011[/caption]
Courtney is played by Holly J. Barrett in the new film, while Maggie Lawson plays Krista and Doug Savant takes on the role of Doug.
The 65-year-old became a household name in 1999 when he played Percy Wetmore – the evil prison guard who enjoyed seeing inmates die on death row – in The Green Mile.
Krista admits she was a “stage mom” when Courtney was growing up, and she signed the teen up for an online acting workshop that Doug was teaching at the time.
“I had no idea he was going to show an interest in my daughter in a different way,” she said. “My part was innocent. I just wanted her to have some acting lessons.
“I just would not allow them to go anywhere alone, and they wanted to, and the only way they could, legally, without me being legally responsible, is for me not to be her guardian anymore.
“Strong stage mothers, we all want our daughters to succeed.
“I would just suggest [keeping] your head straight on, because you can get kind of side-blocked by different things that are thrown at you, and you just really got to make the right decisions for your daughter, or for your son.
“I did not make the right decision to let her marry him. And that’s really sad for me.
“I don’t know what her life would be like if this hadn’t happened. I just don’t know. We’d all be in different places right now.”
She said she has not yet watched the full movie, but saw the scene in a promo for the film released to the media.
“It’s really kind of rough for me, you know? Again, this has been really hard on our family, this situation with her being married so young, so long ago,” she said.
“We’ve had to deal with, of course, the online trolls, and just horrible things that people choose to say to people that are in the media.
“People just think nothing of saying what they want and then going on with their day.”
How to watch I Was a Child Bride: The Courtney Stodden Story
The Lifetime Movie: I Was a Child Bride: The Courtney Stodden Story:
What it is: The new Lifetime original movie tells the controversial and highly publicized story of Courtney Stodden, who married 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchison at the age of 16.
The film is narrated by the real Courtney Stodden and tells the story from her perspective, focusing on the themes of child exploitation, trauma, and resilience.
How to Watch it:
- It premieres on Lifetime on Saturday, September 27th at 8/7c (based on the search results).
- It will likely be available to stream the next day on the Lifetime website or through a streaming service that carries Lifetime content.
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Krista reveals that during the model’s marriage to Doug, she didn’t have a relationship with her daughter for a year.
“She thinks it was longer, but I really do believe that Doug tried to separate us.
“I think he wanted Courtney and [me] apart. He wanted her just for him and not me around, and I think that’s kind of what.
“She’s claiming he’s an abuser, and this and that. I think that is what people like that do. They try to isolate you.
“But Courtney knew better. She said, you know, I want… I want my mom in my life, and so I was very grateful for that, but Doug… Doug kind of gaslit a lot of stuff and made some things up to separate us that weren’t true, and that’s kind of in the movie as well.”
Courtney had said in previous interviews that their mom also fell in love with Doug, which Krista previously admitted.
But she now feels that it was just used to help promote a show they were on, The Mother/Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition.
Krista said, “Doug and I are the same age, and we became very close, and if he was having a little problem, he’d come to me for advice, and he should have never done that, because Courtney’s my daughter, and it just didn’t work well.
“Some of the things that he was accusing me of, just to separate my daughter and myself. But you know what? My daughter and I are closer than ever, so I’m really grateful for that.”
She said she hasn’t spoken to Doug in years and has no interest in doing so.
He recently slammed her grooming claims in a statement, calling them “malicious” and “egregious” and accusing Courtney of having a “desperate desire to remain in the entertainment media limelight”.
Krista said they had a regular life until they moved to Hollywood, where things “went crazy”.
“She entered some pageants, and then we wanted to get her into some acting lessons, and somebody that we know referred Doug Hutchison, and so that’s how we came in contact with him,” she said.
“Courtney was working with him, and then things just kind of spun out of control. They just became closer and closer, and it was not a normal thing, and so it’s not like people know how to exactly handle this type of situation.
“I wish that I talked her out of it [the wedding]. But I never talked her into it.
“I just wouldn’t do that. That’s why it broke my heart [seeing the scene]. We were just in a situation, and I did not make the best decision.”
Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchison attend the VH1 ‘Couples Therapy’ With Dr. Jenn Reunion at GMT Studios[/caption]
Doug Hutchison and Courtney Stodden are seen on a stroll in Los Angeles in 2012[/caption]
