Mary Kary Letourneau, who famously married her student Vili Fualaau, is dead at 58.
According to reports, the 58-year-old former Washington elementary school teacher died of stage 4 cancer. Mary Kay’s attorney confirmed the news to KING 5 news.
Mary Kay is survived by her husband Vili Fualaau and their two children. The two met when then 34-year-old Mary was 13-year-old Vili’s sixth grade teacher. She served 7 years in prison for having relations with him and was released in 2005. Prior to entering prison, she gave birth to their first child. They would later get married and have one more kid.
Back in May 2017, Vili filed for legal separation from Mary Kay following 12 years of marriage. In the petition, Vili said they had no prenuptial agreement and neither owned property. He asked the court not to award Mary Kay spousal support.
Mary Kay dragged her feet and blew off the case for months and the judge was close to granting the legal separation without her responding. However, Mary Kay eventually showed up to court and tried to contest the divorce. The divorce was finalized in 2019.
In 2018, prior to the divorce, the two sat down for a joint with Barbara Walters they spoke about their controversial love affair. At the time they were celebrating their 10-year anniversary.
Vili said, “I don’t think there’s ever a full 10 good years of marriage,” Fualaau says in a just-released quote from his sit-down with Walters. “You have your ups and downs in marriages. But, you know, what matters is how you pull through all the bad times.”
Mary Kay told Barbara, “It is our 10-year anniversary, and we already know that no matter how protective we are, that there’s going to be a wave of intrusion in our life right now that we can’t stop. So it’s about doing the most responsible thing to protect our girls for the inevitable.”
