Courtney Stodden’s father told her to "never contact him again".
The 24-year-old reality star – who split from her husband, 58-year-old Doug Hutchison, in 2016 – admitted her heart has been "torn into pieces" over her lengthy estrangement from her dad and believes their fractured relationship was one of the reasons why she wed the ‘Green Mile’ actor when she was just 16 years old.
Writing on Instagram, Courtney said: "My Father told me to never contact him again and that he does not have a daughter. My heart has been torn into pieces over the damaged relationship with him for over a decade now.
"I left home at 16 and got married (most likely due to abandonment issues and not feeling worthy enough for my Dad) as My emotional state wasn’t a priority to him nor spending quality time with me. So yeah, I chose to leave. I fell in love and finally felt nurtured.
"My father in turn threw away all of my childhood memories including hundreds of video tapes (my first birthday, gymnastics lessons, singing and dancing videos, etc).(sic)"
And the blonde beauty insisted that she is learning to "accept" that she cannot "change" her relationship with her dad, but will always love him.
She continued: "The thing is, if my father doesn’t want to be a FATHER then I need to finally accept that. I cannot change him nor change WHO I AM in order to make this happen.
"Shout out to anyone who is feeling lost, worthless, or has been disowned by any of their family members.
My soul will need YEARS to recover from this.
I will always love my birth father … regardless of anything. -Courtney Stodden (sic)"