Model Courtney Stodden, who was married off to a 51-year-old actor at 16, is urging California lawmakers to finally end child marriage. A bipartisan bill before the California State Senate would establish 18 as the minimum legal age for marriage without exceptions.

Stodden has spoken openly about the lasting impact of marrying as a child, describing how she was groomed, manipulated, and trapped. Now, she is calling for legal protections to ensure no child experiences the same harm. “Children deserve laws that protect them.” If passed, California would become the 18th state in the US to outlaw child marriage.

Renewed attention fuels calls for change

Stodden’s call made headlines following a recent public apology from actor Jason Alexander for an inappropriate 2012 comedy sketch. In the sketch, Alexander, best known for playing George Costanza in Seinfeld, made sexual jokes about 17-year-old Stodden’s body. Responding to his apology, Stodden said, “meaningful action would be even more powerful,” urging Alexander to support the bill.

Though he did not make a statement about the bill, Alexander reportedly donated to survivor-led non-profit Unchained at Last, which leads the fight against child marriage in the US.

Stodden has long been outspoken about the lasting harm caused by child marriage. Newsweek reports:

I’ve been scared to even speak up about feeling groomed or being verbally abused during the almost 10-year marriage because I was a child and he was 50 when we married… I’ve felt completely trapped, manipulated and at times abandoned by adults. Growing up in such an environment—it became a lonely and dark place.

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