Doug Hutchinson weds teenaged Courtney Stodden

In Clark County, Nevada, a minor can get married if they have written permission from his/her parent or legal guardian. While I don’t think that minors should be getting married, I can’t help but have a small glimmer of admiration of the 16 and 17 year olds who decide to give it a go after becoming teen parents. Teenagers, as group, are not known for making the best decisions. They still have a lot of growing up to do, so why on earth would they want to get married before they’d even graduated from high school?

Courtney Stodden had the written consent of her mother to get married. But, to whom did she get married? The happy groom is none other than 51 year old Lost actor Doug Hutchinson. Wait? Is that right? A 16 year old girl just married to a 51 year old man? Yes. Apparently, they are in love, and Hutchinson has taken over Courtney’s aspiring career as a singer or model or astronaut or whatever it is that a 16 year old girl wants to be when she grows up.

 

I don’t even know what to say about this. She’s a 16 year old girl, for crying out loud. And he is a 51 year old man. He’s old enough to be her father! Hell, he’s old enough to have grand children. Is he trying to be the next Hugh Hefner? At least Hef’s brides are old enough to vote, to buy their own alcohol, and to rent their own car.

 

My biggest issue is with Courtney’s parents. Why on earth would you even consider letting your 16 year old daughter marry someone who is as old as you are, if not older? What part of your brain was turned off that made you think it was safe for your teenager to marry a middle aged man? Was there a large deposit made into your bank account? Is Hutchinson blackmailing you for some reason? Where would you get the idea that this was a good idea? I was a 16 year old girl once. I was young, and naïve. Okay, naïve is too gentle of a word. I’ll put it bluntly. At the age of 16, I was young and stupid. I couldn’t decide on one color of nail polish for a manicure, so I had fingernails that were painted ten different colors. Now, let me clarify that as far as teenagers go, I’d like to think that I was fairly intelligent. I was in Honors and AP classes. I was a member of the National Honor Society. But there is no way that I was ready to be married to someone older than my own father. That’s just wrong. I honestly hope that Courtney doesn’t have any younger siblings. I’d hate to think that these two adults are responsible for more children.

 

I’m going to make sure that this is an equal opportunity rant and not forget about Mr. Hutchinson. We have one word to describe you, sir. That word would be: pedophile.

 

What is the world coming to?

 

*The opinions expressed here are solely the opinion of the author and do not claim to represent the opinions of Top 99 Women*