Courtney Stodden is known to fans of “Big Brother” as one of the contestants on the U.K.’s “Celebrity Big Brother.” Meanwhile, she also attained a certain degree of notoriety when she married 51-year-old “Lost” actor Doug Hutchison when she was just 16.
Stodden recently emerged in the headlines when she called out one of the stars of beloved sitcom “Seinfeld” over a Funny or Die comedy sketch they’d both appeared in back in 2012.
A Comedy Sketch That Aged Poorly
On July 20, Stodden issued a post on Instagram, referencing the sketch.
She shared a screenshot of the sketch, in which she sports a skimpy bikini while “Seinfeld” alum Jason Alexander holds a cellphone to her chest.
“I was 17 years old in this photo,” Stodden wrote in the caption.
“The older I get, the more impossible this is to understand,” she continued. “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. 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 [ex-husband Doug Hutchison]. The production moved forward. I was the only child in the room. I felt so alone.”
‘I Don’t See a Comedy’
She continued by reminding her social media followers that she was just 17 at the time, and that the passage of time had made her realize that she’d been taken advantage of by adults.
“Looking back now, I don’t see comedy. I see a 17-year-old girl whose body became part of an adult joke,” Stodden wrote.
“People still say, ‘You chose to be there.’ Legally, I couldn’t make those decisions for myself,” she explained.
“That’s the point,” she added. “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.”
Jason Alexander Offered His ‘Sincerest Apologies’
Alexander responded, issuing a statement of apology to Variety.
“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,” Alexander said.
“But more importantly, I am deeply sorry for any harm or distress it has caused Ms. Stodden,” the actor’s statement continued. “I offer her my sincerest apologies.”
Fighting for Change
As Variety reports, Stodden has been a vocal advocate in encouraging California legislators to pass AB1267.
That bill that would ban child marriage, making the legal minimum age 18 years old and preventing teenagers from being able to marry adults, as she did with Hutchison in 2011.
Stodden and Hutchison separated in 2016. Their divorce was finalized in 2020.
