Lifetime
Courtney Stodden feels betrayed by her own mother ... and it's not the first time.
The reality TV star, who married "Green Mile" actor and elder by 35 years Doug Hutchison when she was just 16, is accusing her mom Krista Keller of some extremely "inappropriate" behavior -- and slamming her for spreading a skewed version of the truth in recent interviews.
In the premiere of "The Mother/Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition," Stodden accused Krista of trying to "steal" her husband behind her back. Krista, by her own admission, says the two became close -- and, in an interview with FOX 411, claims Doug told her he "developed feelings" for her in return.
According to Courtney, however, that couldn't be further from the truth. Stodden says the trouble started almost immediately after she and Doug tied the knot. Krista, who was living in Washington at the time and initially signed off on the marriage, wanted to move close to her daughter. As luck would have it, the home next to the couple was vacant ... and mama moved in.
"My mom was thrilled, and she wanted to manage my career," Stodden tells toofab's Brian Particelli. "I would always want to please my mom, I knew she wasn't happy up in Washington state, I knew she wasn't happy with my father and I knew that relationship was crumbling as well. I always felt responsible for her happiness. She felt the love that I had for my husband, so naturally she felt that love."
"My husband isn't the first man that this happened to," Courtney reveals. "I had other past relationships where she felt feelings for them, she crossed the boundaries because they were never there."
As for her mom's assertions that the deeper feelings were mutual, Stodden scoffs. In fact, she explains, Doug was the one who exposed what was happening.
"My mom is famous for being the victim. Naturally, she's going to pass off all of the hurtful boundaries that she crossed onto other people. I was aware of the entire thing when it was happening," she explains. "I didn't want to believe my mom was betraying me or attempting to betray me in that way. So when my husband would come to me and say, 'Your mom's being really inappropriate, you can't trust your mom.' This is when I was 16, I didn't believe it."
The two women can agree on one thing though: nothing physical ever happened between the Krista and Doug.
"Absolutely not," Stodden says, emphatically. "My husband and I, we're going on our fifth wedding anniversary in May. We're getting ready to renew our vows. I married an incredible man and for my mom to attempt to sabotage my life and my life choices, it's really hurtful."
The now-21-year-old says things got worse after she fired her mom as her manager.
"It's interesting, my mom has said nothing but glowing things about me, my life, my marriage, up until the point I asked her to resign as manager," Stodden continues. "This whole managerial thing was becoming more important to her, Hollywood was becoming more important to her and it was ruining our relationship. I didn't want that to happen. When I asked her to step down, she got really upset. That's when she started selling stories and trying to sabotage my situation."
While Courtney says her time on the Lifetime reality show has definitely helped her as a person, it's still an ongoing process with Krista - especially in light of that recent FOX 411 interview.
"[Our relationship is] better than where we were. But that being said, the story is still being written," Courtney reflects. "She just did yesterday, she went in the media and said other things. I hope she's also able to apply the tools Dr. Debbie gave her on the show. I feel like she's kind of reverting back to her old ways again and that scares me and it's hurtful."
Check out the full interview above to see why the two decided to hash out their issues on a reality show ... and why it was so stressful, she suffered panic attacks during filming.
"The Mother/Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition" airs Tuesdays on Lifetime.
