Among the many, many things the world is constantly asking about child bride Courtney Stodden is this: Did she or did she not have plastic surgery? Given that I’m of the belief that Courtney Stodden is actually a 35-year-old performance artist, it might perhaps be unsurprising that my own answer to that question leans pretty strongly towards “yes;” but maybe I’d better let you decide for yourselves. Celebuzz hit the jackpot yesterday when they unearthed a veritable treasure trove of Courtney Stodden images, all taken in the years leading up to her scandalous marriage to 51-year-old Doug Hutchison. Take a look at a couple of them:

Awww. How demure. And then there's this one:

Read Mean Betty on the Continuing Train Wreck That Is Courtney Stodden

The MySpace Shot: Time-honored tradition of tweens and teens everywhere. And then there's this:

What up, y'all. Just hangin' out. And finally, there's this one:

Courtney Stodden, aspiring filmmaker. Wonder what happened to that girl?

Yes, we can see the beginnings of those ridiculous poses she strikes all the time now here; but you know what? These pictures make me kind of sad. Here, she looks fresh-faced and young and like someone you’d want to hang out with at the mall after school. Fast forward to now, and she’s become a vapid bimbo with dead, vacant eyes. It’s kind of tragic, really.

Interestingly, there seems to be some conflict over exactly when these photos were taken. Like the handful of previous pics that have surfaced, many believe they were taken when Courtney was 15—a mere year prior to her launch into the tabloids—but when Celebuzz spoke to Courtney’s mom, Krista, she had another story to tell: “She was between 12 or 13 years old when they were taken, and they were shot by a modeling agency. You take her makeup off now, and she looks exactly like that. That’s here with no makeup on.”

If the modeling agency story is true, I doubt that she has no makeup on—it’s unlikely that a modeling agency would shoot her without it—but that aside, the bigger question is this: Why on earth would you want to pile on enough makeup to put a drag queen to shame when these photos prove that you look perfectly fine—and age appropriate!—without it? Furthermore, why would a MOTHER be okay with it? Because to me, that’s the weirdest part: Krista is totally cool with her teenage daughter looking like a hooker. Forgive me if I’m being old-fashioned, but that’s, shall we say, unusual.

Furthermore, Krista maintains that Courtney hasn’t had any work done: “Her breasts are proven to be real,” she said. And yeah, if the pictures were taken when she was 12 or 13, it’s entirely possible that she could have experienced some extreme growth by the time she turned 16. But to be honest, I’m not sure how much I believe Krista here. If Courtney was 15 when they were taken, it’s pretty unlikely that she’d sprout that much between then and now. Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

I don’t know. The whole situation makes me feel kind of icky. That thing about her maybe being a 35-year-old performance artist? I really hope that’s true, because then at least we’d know that it was some sort of wacky artistic project or whatever. But it probably isn’t true. And that’s why sometimes, I want to unplug everything and go live in a dark, secluded cave somewhere.

Maybe I should start hunting for that cave now. Anyone got any leads?

Lucia Peters is BettyConfidential’s associate editor.

Catch more early photos of Courtney Stodden over at Celebuzz.