Letourneau was diagnosed with cancer about six or seven months ago, according to Gehrke. In the summer of 1996, Letourneau was a 34-year-old married mother of four when her relationship with sixth-grader Vili Fualaau … Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher who raped and then married her student, Villi Fualaau, died Tuesday. The couple married in 2005, despite the criminal history of their relationship. • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? The couple eventually married in 2005 and were together until Fualaau filed a petition for legal separation in 2017. Letourneau made worldwide headlines in 1997 when the Seattle-area teacher was convicted of second-degree child rape of Fualaau, who had been her student. A restraining order against Letourneau was dropped, but Letourneau remains a registered sex offender in Washington state. Get push notifications with news, features and more. That feels good for him.". RELATED: Mary Kay Letourneau Is 'Feeling Kind of Lost' After Split From Husband She Once Sexually Abused, "After the split, he started really going over things in his mind," the insider tells PEOPLE. Mary Katherine Letourneau (née Schmitz; January 30, 1962 – July 6, 2020) was an American teacher who pled guilty in 1997 to two counts of felony second-degree rape of a child, Heidi Gutman/ABC/Getty. "So yes, they were divorced and they had their spats, but they were always in love with each other.". Mary's now-estranged husband, Vili Fualaau, previously shared her stage 4 cancer diagnosis on Instagram, sharing a photo of himself wearing a medical mask with the caption, "Praying for a miracle." Introducing ... PEOPLE's Products Worth the Hype. RELATED: Mary Kay Letourneau Is on Dating Sites, 'Interested in Someone Who Is Age-Appropriate': Source. "And I know it meant the world to Vili, as painful as it was.". The case drew massive media attention as Letourneau, then 34, and her student, Vili Fualaau, then 12, were found in a minivan in June 1996, at a marina outside Seattle. Letourneau gained infamy after her 1997 conviction for the rape of a former student, 12-year-old Vili Fualaau. Vili Fualaau Details His Final Moments With Mary Kay Letourneau Before Her Death Vili Fualaau is opening up about his final moments with Mary Kay Letourneau before she died of cancer at the age of 58. She was paroled in 1998 but then returned to prison after she was found breaking her parole for having contact with Fualaau. Ms. Letourneau and Mr. Fualaau had two children together before he turned 15. Editor's Note: This story was originally published in May 2020. Coyote Ugly Turns 20: Where Is the Cast Now? Vili Fualaau recounts final moments with Mary Kay ... - TODAY Mary Kay Letourneau, the former Seattle teacher who was convicted of raping Vili Fualaau, a sixth-grade student in the 1990s before marrying him, has … THE late Mary Kay Letourneau and her former student-turned-ex-husband Vili Fualaau did everything they could to keep their family together, a source has revealed. Vili Fualaau, 37, who divorced Letourneau last year, uprooted his life to be with her until her death at 58, attorney David Gehrke told TODAY. She was married with four children at the time By Priyam Chhetri Updated On : 14:01 PST, Mar 19, 2020. A … Vili Fualaau was Letourneau's sixth-grade student at a school in Seattle, Washington. Vili Fualaau explains why he filed for divorce from wife of 12 years, Mary Kay Letourneau — get the details Vili Fualaau and his daughter enter their home on May 8, 2005 in the Seattle suburb Normandy Park, WA. RELATED: Inside Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau's Split: 'Their Past Has Caught Up With Them'. It is being republished following the death of Mary Kay Letourneau. The couple headed for a split in 2017, after Fualaau filed for legal separation. Credit: At her death, he said, she was surrounded by her children and Vili Fualaau, the former student she later married. Fualaau, whom Letourneau married after she was convicted of raping him when he was a child, was by her side for the past 2 months as she died of cancer. When Vili Fualaau was 12-years-old, he found himself at the center of a massive scandal—and many would say, tragedy. Now 37, Fualaau's name remains attached to the same story. She twice became pregnant by him before he was 15, despite court orders aimed at keeping them apart. "Vili moved back from California, gave up his life there, and for the last two months of Mary’s life he stood by her 24/7 taking care of her," Gehrke said. 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