Courtney Stodden heard Seinfeld star Jason Alexander’s apology—but she hopes there will be some action behind the statement.
Stodden, 31, told the Daily Beast, “I hope it becomes more than just words,” after Alexander apologized publicly. The reality TV star called out Alexander, 66, on Instagram on Monday for a sketch they were in together with Stodden’s then-husband Doug Hutchison in 2012. Stodden was 17 at the time she appeared on Funny or Die’s The Donny Clay Show, in which Alexander parodied a motivational TV host who ultimately gropes her during his antics.
“I was a minor. I didn’t have the legal power to decide whether I wanted to participate,” she wrote of the sketch on Monday, in which Alexander’s character “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.”
Stodden made the appearance after rising to fame for marrying Hutchison, who was 51 when she tied the knot with him at age 16 in 2011. Alexander apologized in a statement to the Daily Beast on Tuesday.
“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,” he wrote. “But more importantly, I am deeply sorry for any harm or distress it has caused Ms. Stodden. I offer her my sincerest apologies.”
Stodden told the Daily Beast Alexander doesn’t stop at the public apology. “For me, accountability isn’t just about acknowledging the past. It’s about helping create a future where no child has to experience what so many of us did.”
The star previously told TMZ that she accepts and appreciates the sentiment, with the caveat, “I believe the most meaningful apology is one that creates change. I would encourage him to support and donate to Unchained At Last, an organization I’m proud to advocate alongside that is leading the fight to end child marriage in the United States.”
Stodden, whose mother signed off on her marriage to then Hutchison, is now an advocate to ban marriage for anyone under the age of 18, without parental or judicial exception. She posted on Monday that the sketch with Alexander was one example of the way she felt exploited during her marriage. Hutchison has denied her characterization of their nine-year union.
“I was a minor. I didn’t have the legal power to decide whether I wanted to participate,” she wrote of the sketch on Monday.
She added, “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.”
Stodden and Hutchison divorced in 2020. Her advocacy work includes bringing attention to California’s pending legislation AB1267, which would effectively ban child marriage. She’s also written a memoir and executive produced a biographical drama film about her life for Lifetime.
