The mother of Courtney Stodden has publicly criticized a recent television film about her daughter’s life, calling out a specific scene she says is entirely invented and deeply damaging.
Krista Keller expressed respect and admiration for her daughter but took issue with the Lifetime movie I Was a Child Bride: The Courtney Stodden Story. While acknowledging the network’s standard disclaimer about dramatic license, Keller identified one portrayal she found particularly egregious.
The scene in question depicts Keller entering her teenage daughter’s bedroom and aggressively steering her toward marriage. According to Keller, this moment—where she allegedly pressures a 16-year-old Courtney about her relationship with then-51-year-old actor Doug Hutchison—is a complete fabrication.
“That never happened,” Keller stated. “It shows me strong-arming her, and that is not the truth. I did not force or manipulate my daughter into this marriage.”
Keller clarified her actual stance at the time, recalling she advised her daughter that dating Hutchison was illegal due to Courtney’s age, and that marriage was the only legal avenue, which would remove her own parental liability. She emphasized she did not talk her daughter into the union and has long regretted not persuading her to wait until she was older.
“The decision to let her marry him was not the right one, and that is a profound sadness for me,” Keller reflected, pondering how different all their lives might have been.
While Keller said she understood the network’s desire to add drama and was cooperative with writers, she found this specific invented narrative “very hurtful” and felt compelled to set the record straight.
Stodden’s marriage to Hutchison in 2011, when she was 16, propelled her into a harsh media spotlight. The couple divorced in 2020, and Stodden has since spoken openly about the lasting trauma from that period of her life.
