Courtney Stodden is detailing the ongoing effort to end child marriage in the United States after publicly calling out problematic behavior from powerful men, including reality TV physician Dr. Drew Pinsky and Seinfield star Jason Alexander.
“I’ve been working with Unchained at Last, and we have be working on AB 1267 – a bill that will end child marriage [in California] with no exceptions,” Stodden, 32, exclusively told Us on Saturday, September 12, while attending GBK Brand bar’s Annual Pre-TV Awards at Sun Rose in West Hollywood.
Child marriage — defined as a legal union made to anyone under the age of 18 — is currently legal in 34 states. Three states — California, Mississippi and New Mexico — do not require any minimum age for marriage. Between 2000 and 2018, when all 50 states legalized the practice, nearly 300,000 minors were legally married across the country. The majority of the minors were young girls.
“I’ve been fighting for so long and really, really hard with amazing survivors who have become my survivor sisters,” Stodden continued of her efforts to eradicate child marriage in the United States. “We’ve been going to the Sacramento Capitol, and for the first time in nine years this is going to reach [Gov. Gavin] Newsom’s desk and he’s going to sign it. And no more girls will ever have to go through what me and all of those other survivors went through.”
Courtney Stodden Slams Dr. Drew for Ultrasound to See if 'Breasts Were Real’
She added, “There have been years of abuse — child trafficking in California – and a lot of people say, ‘This isn’t true. It happens in another country. It’s not here.’ No, it’s here. But it stops now.”
Child marriage is an issue near-and-dear to Stodden’s heart — she was a child bride in 2011 when she married Doug Hutchinson, then-50, when she was just 16 years old. The pair eventually split in 2017.
Courtney Stodden Getty ImagesStodden has since been a fierce advocate for eradicating the practice in the U.S., and in the process has publicly called out men who she has claimed abused their platforms and were inappropriate with her when she was a child.
In June, Stodden slammed Dr. Drew, 68, for what she alleged was exploitation after the talk show host performed an ultrasound on her breasts in front of a studio audience when she was 16 in an effort to prove if they were “real” or not. (Dr. Drew did not publicly address the allegations at the time. Us reached out for comment but did not receive a response. Dr. Drew’s wife, Susan Pinsky, later publicly invited Stodden to “duke it out” with her husband on their podcast.)
A month later, she called out Alexander, 66, for his role in a comedy sketch featuring Stodden when she was a minor. In the sketch, which parodied daytime television, Alexander used a cell phone to “assess the quality” of Stodden’s heart by rubbing the device on her breasts.
“I was 17 years old in this photo,” she wrote via Instagram in July. “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. 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.”
Alexander issued a public apology shortly after, “completely” agreeing with Stodden that the sketch crossed the line.
“Looking back at the comedy sketch in which Ms Stodden and I participated in 2012, I completely agree that it was inappropriate and I truly regret it,” the actor said in a statement to Us. “But more importantly, I am deeply sorry for any harm or distress it has caused Ms. Stodden. I offer her my sincere apologies.”
While speaking to Us on Saturday, Stodden praised Alexander for his willingness to take public accountability for his actions — something the model and advocate said our culture needs more of.
“While we say #MeToo, we also need to go even a step further and say let’s take accountability,” she told Us. “Jason Alexander, you are a f***ing rock star. You took accountability. We need to see more of that.”
Courtney Stodden Addresses Jason Alexander’s Apology Donation for Sketch
She continued, “A lot of people haven’t taken accountability, and I think #MeToo has raised a really important platform for survivors, but now it’s time for the people to take accountability because otherwise we just stall. We stay there. So Jason Alexander, he took accountability. I never received a personal apology, but he put his money where his mouth is, right? And all I want to do is get AB 1267 signed by Gavin Newsom.”
Stodden told Us she has no intention of slowing down once the legislation is signed and child marriage is illegal in California. For her, the work never ends.
“I never really wanted this, to be honest with you,” she admitted. “I wanted more out of my life, but I think the craziest thing is that I’m figuring out [that] I’m waking up to a bigger purpose — turning pain into purpose. And the amount of DMs and messages I get from women and men who are telling me how much I’m helping them and saving their lives, I have such a responsibility.”
She added, “I have to get back, and I have to do it. No matter if I’m tired, I got to spread the word because it’s really important.”
If you know of a young person who is being exploited or is the victim of a crime, you are urged to report it to your local FBI field office by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI. Tips can also be left at tips.fbi.gov/
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