Mary Kay Letourneau dies at 58 in hospital after battle with cancer while being cared for by her former husband who she was convicted of raping when he was 12 and she was his teacher
Mary Kay Letourneau, the former Seattle middle school teacher who was convicted of raping a sixth-grade student in the 1990s before marrying him after being released from prison, has died.
The 58-year-old passed away at home late on Monday after a quiet nine-month battle with stage four colon cancer, her attorney David Gehrke revealed to TMZ Tuesday.
Letourneau made headlines around the world in 1996, when the then-34-year-old teacher was found to be having a sexual relationship with one of her 12-year-old students, Vili Fualaau. The pair later wed in 2005 after she was released from prison.
Though the couple finalized their divorce last year, Gehrke said that Fualaau had been providing her with 24 hour care in the final stages of her life.
'It was expected but sad anyway,' Gehrke told KOMO, adding that she died surrounded by family members.
'She was a good person,' he said.
Mary Kay Letourneau (left 1994, right 2018), the controversial Seattle middle school teacher who was at the center of a national scandal in the 1990s when she admitted to having a sexual relationship with her sixth-grade student, has died
Letourneau (above in 1997) was a sixth-grade teacher at Shorewood Elementary in 1996 when she was discovered to be having sexual relations with her 12-year-old student, Vili Fualaau (left)
The pair married in 2005 and remained together for 12 years until Faulaau filed for divorce in 2017
Letourneau, a then-married mother-of four, first met Fualaau when he joined her second grade class in 1992, but they did not begin their sexual relationship until four years later when he was 12.
In 1996, after the school year had ended, the pair enrolled in summer classes at the same community college and began spending more time together.
One day after class, the pair went out for dinner. In a 2018 interview, Fualaau recalled that after the meal he asked to kiss Letourneau inside her car, which she accepted.
Letourneau then had sex with Fualaau first time later that summer, when her husband, Steve Letourneau, was out of town.
At about 1:20 a.m. on June 19, 1996, police found the pair in a minivan parked at the Des Moines Marina. Letourneau was seen jumping into the front seat as officers approached the vehicle, while Fualaau pretended to be asleep in the back.
Fualaau and Letourneau denied there had been any 'touching.' They initially provided false names and Letourneau told police that Fualaau was 18.
Letourneau then said she had been babysitting the boy at her home and took him away in her van after she and her husband had a fight. They were taken to the police station but no further action was taken.
However, the true nature of their relationship was uncovered in February, 1997, when Steve Letourneau found love letters that the pair had penned to one another. He confronted Faulaau, demanding he end the relationship otherwise he'd inform his parents.
'He came to my house and confronted me about it and told me if I don’t want my mom knowing about this or anyone knowing about this, it was going to end,' Faulaau explained in a 2018 interview. 'I was worried about everything, about Mary, myself and I said OK, I don’t want this to get out anywhere.
'The fear of my mom’s reaction and the thought of everyone being affected by it was one of my biggest fears, so I said, for the better of everyone, OK. It was kind of devastating.'
However, one of Steve's relatives had already alerted school authorities about their relationship and Letourneau was arrested on statutory rape charges.
Shortly after, Steve then filed for divorce. He received full custody of their four children and moved the family to Alaska.
Their illegal relationship was uncovered by Letourneau's husband at the time, Steve Letourneau (seen right), who found love letters exchanged between his wife and Faulaau
Letourneau was initially was sentenced to three months in jail as part of a plea agreement in 1997, in which she agreed to no longer have any contact with Fualaau. She was pregnant with her former student's child at the time of her conviction
Though the couple finalized their divorce last year, Gehrke said that Fualaau had been proving her 24 hour care in the final stages of her life. She died surrounded by family members, the attorney said (Pictured: The family on vacation together in New York in 2015, with their daughters Georgina, left, and Audrey ,right)
Vili Fualaau, 15, is shown in court on October 25, 1998. He had just arrived in Seattle from London promoting a book he had written about his relationship with Letourneau
Letourneau was initially sentenced to three months in jail as part of a plea agreement in November 1997, in which she agreed to no longer have any contact with Fualaau.
She was pregnant with her former student's child at the time of her conviction.
Letourneau was then paroled in 1998. However, shortly after her release from jail, she was once again found having sex in a car with Fualaau on February 3.
A Judge then revoked Letourneau's prior plea agreement and she was ordered to serve seven years in prison on second-degree child rape charges for violating the no-contact order.
She gave birth to Fualaau's second child while in prison. The young father had still not yet turned 15.
Upon her release from prison, Fualaau, who was by then an adult, petitioned in court for a judge to remove the no-contact order.
The restraining order against Letourneau was dropped, but the shamed teacher remained a registered sex offender in Washington state.
Letourneau and Fualaau then once again shocked the world when tied the knot in 2005. They remained married for 12 years, until Faulaau filed for divorce in 2017.
The pair continued living together while the legal separation proceeded and were occasionally spotted out with one another in the Seattle area, with their two daughters, Georgina and Audrey.
Despite several attempts to reconcile, the couple finalized their split in February last year and began living apart.
'They don’t hate each other. But they’re both looking forward to getting on with their lives and moving forward,' a source close to the couple said at the time.
Letourneau was then paroled in 1998. However, shortly after her release from jail, she was found in a car having sex with Fualaau and was ordered to serve seven years in prison on second-degree child rape charges.
Former Seattle teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, whose affair with one of her ex-pupils caused a national scandal, breaks down February 6 as she is ordered to prison for 7-1/2 years for seeing the boy again
The couple are shown in 2005, the year they got married. Their divorce would be filed 14 years later but they remained close
Despite several attempts to reconcile, the couple finalized their split in February last year and began living apart.
Letourneau broke down in 2018 as she discussed the media fallout from the couple's relationship.
'It's shock value. That's what it was all about. Shock. I call it media carnage. Road kill. Blood,' she said on the A&E special 'Autobiography'.
'Everybody wants to hear the story. Whether it's because they want to analyze it or criticize it. It's been 20 years but it's still there.'
Letourneau went on to claim the media's portrayal of their relationship was incorrect. She said that the relationship between the two did not start until after the school year was over, and that it quickly became physical.
'The incident was a late night that it didn't stop with a kiss. And I thought that it would and it didn't,' said Letourneau. 'I loved him very much, and I kind of thought, "Why can't it ever just be a kiss?''
Fualaau, who also appeared, reflected on their relationship and said he 'wasn't thinking' when they started having sex when he was just 12 years old.
'The age difference, all of that stuff wasn't going through my mind,' he said. 'A lot of things that should have gone through my mind at the time, weren't going through my mind.'
In a separate interview the same year, Letourneau claimed she had no idea it was illegal to enter a sexual relationship with a child at the time.
'If someone had told me, if anyone had told me, there is a specific law that says this is a crime,' she told Channel Seven's Sunday Night.
'I did not know. I've said this over and over again. Had I'd known, if anyone knows my personality. Just the idea, this would count as a crime.'
Fualaau was a troubled Samoan boy from a broken home living in a rough part of Seattle at the time of the scandal. His father served time in prison for an armed robbery, and he had a difficult relationship with his mother.
He also opened up on the program about the difficulties he faced trying to raise his two daughters alone when he wasn't even an adult yet himself.
The teen was eventually forced to drop out of high school and slipped into depression and alcoholism, he said.
'I don't feel like I had the right support or the right help behind me,' he said. '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.'
'I'm surprised I'm still alive today. I went through a really dark time,' he added.
Letourneau gave birth to Fualaau's second child while in prison. The young father had still not yet turned 15
Fualaau opened up about the difficulties he faced trying to raise his two daughters alone when he wasn't even an adult yet himself. The teen was eventually forced to drop out of high school and slipped into depression and alcoholism
Letourneau is survived by her children, Steven Jr., Claire, Nicholas, and Jacqueline, whom she had with first husband, Steve Letourneau, in addition to the two daughters she had with Fualaau
A source told PEOPLE that Letourneau's health had taken a drastic downturn in recent months, causing her to lose weight and leaving her in a perpetual state of exhaustion.
'It was a very sad ending,' the source told the outlet.
Letourneau had been in hospice care for the final month her life, Gehrke told TMZ. According to the attorney, Fualaau had been by her side, giving her 24 hour care.
Fualaau had previously shared her cancer diagnosis on his Instagram page, uploading a photo of himself wearing a surgical mask with the caption, 'Praying for a miracle', the outlet reported.
Letourneau is survived by her children, Steven Jr., Claire, Nicholas, and Jacqueline, whom she had with first husband, Steve Letourneau, in addition to the two daughters she had with Fualaau.
'I truly believe she was never a threat to any other boy than the one she ended up marrying after spending seven years in prison,' Gehrke told Q13 News. 'I feel nothing but sadness for her children, whom she loved more than anything.'
Mary Kay Letourneau dies at 58 in hospital after battle with cancer while being cared for by her former husband who she was convicted of raping when he was 12 and she was his teacher
![Mary Kay Letourneau dies at 58 in hospital after battle with cancer while being cared for by her former husband who she was convicted of raping when he was 12 and she was his teacher]()
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