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Infamous 2011 Interview Finally Gets An Explanation After Courtney Stodden Reveals What Caused The ‘Weird’ Behavior
TV personality and singer Courtney Stodden married actor Doug Hutchison in 2011 after attending his online acting workshop.
Stodden, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, was 16 years old at the time, and Hutchison was 51.
In an interview at the time, in which the couple addressed the significant age gap in their marriage, Stodden made an expression many found strange.
Highlights
- Model and singer Courtney Stodden opened up on a viral moment from a 2011 interview that haunted them for years.
- Stodden revealed that the facial tics they had during the interview were because of Tourette’s syndrome.
- Stodden, who married 51-year-old Doug Hutchison at 16, accused their ex-husband of “grooming.”
They have now explained the truth behind the behavior in a lengthy social media post.
“They were a child who was groomed and didn’t have a positive support system,” a user said about Stodden. “We all failed Courtney.”
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Courtney Stodden was “ashamed” to reveal the medical condition that caused their tics
Image credits: courtneyastodden
In one segment of the interview, conducted by ABC News, Stodden was seen having a series of facial tics as Hutchison slammed the critics who expressed concern about the marriage.
Sixteen years later, Stodden opened up about the medical condition that led to the incident, calling out those who made fun of them at the time.
“They made a moment into a joke… but there was a reason,” Stodden said on Instagram. “There’s a part of my story no one ever understood.”
Image credits: Getty/JB Lacroix
“As an adult, I was diagnosed with having suffered from Tourette syndrome… and for most of my childhood, I lived with tics I couldn’t control.”
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Tourette syndrome (TS), or simply Tourette’s, is a neurological disorder that may cause sudden, unwanted, and uncontrolled rapid and repeated movements or vocal sounds called tics.
Even though TS typically occurs during early adolescence and lessens by early adulthood, the chronic condition can persist well into adulthood. For some, it may even worsen later in life.
Image credits: ABC
Stodden said they experienced stuttering, eye squinting, mouth movements, muscle tension, and seizures, all of which are symptoms of TS, at a young age.
“I never talked about it before because I was ashamed,” they continued. “I didn’t want to out myself. I thought it would make me look weird, like something was ‘wrong’ with me.”
They revealed that when they experienced the involuntary spasms, they would try to make it look “intentional” and “s*xy” as a “child trying to be seen as a woman.”
Image credits: ABC
“Around 13, it started to quiet down, but it never fully disappeared, and during my first interview, my nerves brought it right back to the surface,” Stodden explained.
Stodden also addressed the speculation that they were under the influence of a substance during the interview: “I was not. There was no alc*hol, no pills, nothing in my system. What you were seeing was a little girl with Tourette’s, under pressure, being watched, trying to hold herself together.”
View this post on Instagram
“I stayed quiet about this for a long time, but I’m not ashamed anymore, because there is nothing shameful about something you never had control over, and if you’ve ever been misunderstood for something your body did, you’re not alone.”
Courtney Stodden said marriage to Doug Hutchison felt like a “conservatorship”
When Hutchison started courting Stodden online, he was allegedly unaware that Stodden was a minor. However, Stodden’s mother, Krista, had monitored their exchanges and was aware of the budding relationship.
The pair married on May 20, 2011. Before the ceremony, Stodden’s parents blessed the union despite Hutchison’s offer to cease the relationship if they disapproved.
Image credits: Getty/JB Lacroix
“We are totally supportive of this marriage,” Krista said at the time, according to ABC News. “Doug is a wonderful man, and we love him. Courtney was a virgin when she married Doug. She is a good Christian girl.”
The couple officially divorced in 2020 after separating and reconciling multiple times over the years.
Image credits: Getty/Jesse Grant
In 2022, Stodden told Page Six that they felt completely “shackled” throughout their marriage to Hutchison.
“I was married into a conservatorship, that’s how it completely felt,” Stodden said. “If you notice photos from the past, you can see he always has his arm here on my arm, and I just always felt even physically shackled.”
“I couldn’t sign my name on anything. I couldn’t sign a legal document. I couldn’t even really leave the house by myself.”
Image credits: courtneyastodden
Stodden revealed that the #FreeBritney movement in support of Britney Spears, who had been under a conservatorship for over 13 years, prompted them to reconsider their marriage.
“Just the freaking feeling of not having your own life and your own rights and feeling trapped, I connected with that,” Stodden said about watching the Britney vs. Spears documentary on Netflix.
The same year, Stodden appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast and called Hutchison a “predator” and a “p*dophile,” accusing him of “grooming.”
Image credits: Getty/Araya Doheny
They alleged that Hutchison was extremely emotionally ab*sive toward them, and at times, physically hurt them as well.
Stodden also said that their mother has apologized several times over the years for agreeing to the marriage.
Courtney Stodden credited their now-husband with saving their life
Stodden is currently married to movie and TV producer Jared Safier, whom they married in 2024.
In a 2025 conversation with People Magazine, Stodden revealed how Safier stopped them from taking their life when they were dating.
“He did save me from trying to un-alive myself,” Stodden said. “This is when we were kind of dating, and after that, I looked at him, and I thought, ‘Maybe this is my husband, if he’s saving me from such moments.’”
Image credits: courtneyastodden
They added that they felt safe with Safier, which was unusual for them: “I find that very strange, because I’m used to gaslighting.”
Stodden has also been vocal about the dangers of underage marriage, so that others do not have to go through their experience.
“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else, and it scares me,” Stodden told People Magazine last year. “We’re the hotbed for the dirty little secret, which is pedophiles marrying our children legally in the United States, so that’s why I’m speaking out.”
They revisited their life story for a 2025 Lifetime biopic, I Was a Child Bride: The Courtney Stodden Story, which they described as a difficult but necessary cautionary tale against child marriage.
According to Equality Now, marriage of individuals aged 16 but not 18 is currently legal in 34 U.S. states with a parental or judicial waiver. Four of those states do not require any minimum age for marriage.
“She was failed by everyone.” The internet reacted to Courtney Stodden marrying Doug Hutchison at 16
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