Stodden to Alexander: Back California's Child Marriage Ban
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- Jason Alexander issued a public apology to Courtney Stodden for a January 2012 "Funny or Die!" sketch called "The Donny Clay Show," in which he fondled her breasts with a cell phone and said he would "take her behind the couch" when she turned 18.
- Stodden, now 31 and divorced from Doug Hutchison (who married her at 16 when he was 51), called the apology a "first step" and urged Alexander to publicly support AB 1267 or donate to Unchained at Last, the only U.S. nonprofit dedicated to ending child marriage.
- AB 1267 would set California's legal minimum marriage age at 18; Stodden noted California is one of only three U.S. states with no minimum marriage age, alongside Mississippi and New Mexico.
- Stodden plans to return to the California State Capitol next month with a group of survivors affiliated with Unchained at Last to lobby legislators, while finishing a memoir and considering a docuseries on her fight.
- Stodden said she didn't recognize the sketch's exploitation until years later, when watching "Pretty Woman" she realized Alexander had recreated his own character's assault on Julia Roberts — "and thought it would be funny to recreate that with a child."
- Stodden said she has received a public apology from Chrissy Teigen for cyberbullying, but Dr. Drew Pinsky — who performed an ultrasound on her breasts on "Lifechangers" when she was 16 — never apologized and instead "doubled down" by sarcastically inviting her on his podcast.
Why it matters: Stodden's own marriage at 16 — in California, one of only three U.S. states with no minimum marriage age — is what's driving her Sacramento lobbying next month with Unchained at Last survivors. Alexander's apology becomes useful only if it converts to legislative support for AB 1267, not just press-cycle remorse.
