Courtney Stodden tells In Touch exclusively that their ex-husband, Doug Hutchison, whom they married when they were at the age of 16 and who is 35 years their senior, “still writes me” and “tries to connect with me.”
“I had to block him multiple times,” they add of his attempts to communicate with them. “There are times when I feel a struggle. And this is really interesting: I was talking to my fiancé [Chris Sheng] last night. We were at the Ivy last night. We were having a nice dinner, and then, I just started crying mid-dinner, you know, it just comes up. I have this struggle where I want answers.”
“And I think that I’ll always struggle with that,” they admit. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get [the answers], but sometimes, I then unblock him … because I think there’s the psychological tug of war that I go through where if he says something to me that makes sense of why he did this.”
Courtney Stodden.
However, in spite of Doug’s attempt to reach out to them, Stodden is “so grateful that I had the strength to move on,” adding that they are “trying not to beat myself up so, so much for allowing myself that grace to heal.”
Stodden also tells In Touch that they have “a lot of trust issues” and are “working through my past stuff” in the wake of their former marriage to Hutchison after their divorce was finalized in March 2020 following their split two years prior.
As for their wedding planning with Sheng, Stodden, who became engaged to Sheng in May 2021, says it’s “good,” but “I feel like I deal with a lot of trust issues, and I know there are so many people who are like waiting for the wedding date. Like, when is this big princess wedding going to happen? But I just, I don’t know.”
“I’m taking my time right now and I’m in no rush to walk down the aisle. I’m kind of working through my past stuff right now,” they admit, before adding of Sheng, “I’m really grateful that I’m with a person who’s understanding of that.”
Stodden reveals it has been “really, really difficult” to trust a partner again after their former marriage. “It’s an ongoing thing. I’m in therapy to try to make sense of a lot of the things I went through. It’s been a lot to try to overcome all of that,” they say. “I think it’s one step at a time.”
Source: InTouch
