Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau: Revisiting the Infamous Sex Abuse Case, 20 Years After the Former Teacher and Student Wed

It has been 20 years since Mary Kay Letourneau married her former student, Vili Fualaau, on May 20, 2005, less than a year after her release from prison.

In 1997, it was revealed that Letourneau had raped one of her students, Fualaau, who was 12 years old at the time.

“The incident was a late night, and it didn’t stop with a kiss,” Letourneau recounted in a 2015 sit-down interview with Barbara Walters on 20/20. “And I thought that it would, and it didn’t.”

The story of Letourneau’s sexual abuse drew more than just the ire of the millions who watched her fall from grace play out in the media. The former teacher was found guilty of two counts of second degree rape of a child and was sentenced to seven years in jail.

After she was released from Washington Corrections Center for Women in August 2004, she married Fualaau, and the couple lived together with their two daughters, Audrey and Georgia. Years later, in 2017, Faulaau filed for separation, and the couple finalized in 2019. Less than a year later, Letourneau died of cancer at the age of 58 in July 2020.

Here’s everything to know about the events that led up to and followed Mary Kay Letourneau’s infamous rape case.