Young at heart?
Lost's Doug Hutchison and his wife Courtney Stodden faced a great deal of criticism for their marriage in May. Hutchison, 51, is 35 years older than his 16-year-old wife.
The Green Mile star met Stodden, an aspiring actress and pop singer, when she signed up for his acting workshop online. After a 4-month courtship over the internet, Hutchison learned that the attractive blonde he'd been flirting with was still just a teenager.
"My world turned upside down," he admitted in an interview with ABC's Good Morning America. "[Online communication] is a really unique and beautiful way to get to know someone," he gushed. "We didn't have the distraction of the physical."
Stoddard's mother monitored her daughter's exchanges with the actor, and was "fully aware" of their staggering age difference.
"I said [that] if you and [Courtney's father] have any misgivings whatsoever about this, if you are uncomfortable with it, I will respect you, and Courtney will respect you, and we will step back," Hutchison said.
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Stodden's mother and father trusted their daughter's judgment and ultimately gave parental consent for her to marry her much-older beau. It was actually Stodden's mom who first suggested the duo get married in a state that would allow it.
So how did the 51-year-old's relationship with an underage girl not break any laws? Up until their marriage, they were never physically intimate.
"I was a virgin," Stodden said. "I knew that if I kept that, I would be blessed with a beautiful gift. And God did! He blessed me with my soulmate."
But not everyone is okay with this May-December romance. Hutchison's agent and manager dropped him, and his own mother cut ties with him. "We knew this was gonna happen," he said. "We knew we were gonna have to weather the repercussions of our decision and our union. This is just the beginning. It brought us closer together."
