Courtney Stodden Opens Up About Healing as She Shares Bikini Photos From Maui: 'I Have a Lot More Life to Live'

Courtney Stodden is getting candid about the emotions behind her seemingly picture-perfect Maui getaway.

The model and singer shared a series of snapshots from her tropical trip, including one photo in which Stodden posed beside a lush waterfall in a deep magenta bikini. Other shots showed her exploring Maui's rocky shoreline in the same two-piece, while another captured her spending time outside in a patterned bikini with her husband, Jared Safier.

She also shared a sweet moment holding a cat and another photo of herself smiling in the tropical surroundings with flowers tucked into her hair.

While the photos looked carefree, Stodden used the post to open up about grief and moving on, saying she “has a lot more life to live.”

“These photos look like paradise. Parts of them were,” Stodden wrote in the caption. “But healing isn’t a destination you arrive at just because the view is beautiful.”

The 32-year-old also opened up about the emotions that came with her birthday, including the pain of waiting for a message from her father that never came.

“There is still a little girl inside me who wants to understand why she wasn’t chosen,” she vented.

Even so, the trip gave Stodden plenty of small moments that made her feel connected to life.

She recalled, "I watched sparrows trust my hands. I held animals close. I saw babies smiling and waving at me and began imagining a future I never believed I would live long enough to have."

She said the island showed her that life could be about more than “performing, proving, surviving, and asking permission to take up space.”

Rather than portraying the trip as a perfect escape, Stodden acknowledged that happiness and heartache were both part of the experience.

“Paradise and pain existed together on this trip. So did grief and joy,” she wrote.

That realization also appears to have shaped the way she views her personal journey. Stodden connected her experiences to her advocacy work, saying she has found meaning in what she has gone through.

She specifically highlighted her efforts surrounding AB 1267, a bill that sets the minimum legal marriage age at 18 with no exceptions, and her push to end child marriage.

“I found a purpose inside my pain,” she wrote, adding that she plans to continue fighting for the cause.

At the heart of Stodden's message was a sense of hope.

“I have a lot more healing to do, but I also have a lot more life to live,” she concluded.

Her message comes after Stodden reflected on her journey while celebrating her 32nd birthday on August 29.

Sharing another glimpse of her Maui trip, she wrote, “Woke up in paradise, part one,” explaining that it was her final day of being 31 before turning 32.

She continued, “Honestly… there was a time I didn’t think I would live to see my 30s. I couldn’t imagine a future where it didn’t hurt so much just to be here. Now, I’m sitting in Maui with a flower in my hair, feeling grateful I get to grow older. I’m reclaiming my life.”