Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher convicted of raping her student and then later marrying him, has died at age 58. The news was confirmed by Letoruneau’s attorney, David Gerke, according to KING 5 News.
Letourneau died of stage 4 cancer, Gerke revealed, who represented her in the case that gained her national notoriety back in 1996. When she was working as a sixth-grade teacher at Shorewood Elementary in Burien, Washington, she was caught having sexual relations with her student, Vili Fualaau, who was 12-years-old at the time. Initially, Letourneau was ordered to spend six months in jail and stay away from Fualaau. Once she was released in 1998, authorities discovered that the couple had resumed their relationship. Letourneau’s plea agreement was revoked, and she resumed her seven-year prison sentence for having sex with a minor.
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Things didn’t stop there, as Letourneau and Fualaau got married in 2005. Although, Fualaau filed for separation in 2017, and the divorce was finalized last year. The couple had two children together. Not including the four children Letourneau had from a previous marriage.
Back in 2015, Letourneau spoke with American Scandals host Barbara Walters about her affair-turned-marriage. “If it wasn’t strong enough in the beginning, it wouldn’t have carried through those years,” she revealed. “The incident was a late night, and it didn’t stop with a kiss,” she revealed. “And I thought that it would, and it didn’t. When asked if she felt “guilty” or “disgusted” with herself for the affair, she simply replied, “I loved him very much, and I kind of thought, ‘Why can’t it ever just be a kiss?’”
Fualaau, meanwhile, told Walters that he “went through a really dark time” due to the affair. He grew up impoverished without a father and had a contentious relationship with his mother. After Letourneau became pregnant with his child, he didn’t feel like he had a support system. “It was a huge change in my life, for sure,” he explained. “I don’t feel like I had the right support, the right help behind me… from my family, from anyone, in general. I mean, my friends couldn’t help me because they had no idea what it was like to be a parent, I mean because we were all 14, 15.”
Given the fact she was a registered sex offender, Letourneau wasn’t able to teach, so she worked as a legal assistant. Her and Fualaau also briefly worked together, hosting “Hot for Teacher” nights at local bars following their wedding.
