Mary Kay Letourneau Was Arrested 29 Years Ago — Here’s Where Vili Fualaau Is Today

It’s been almost 30 years since Mary Kay Letourneau was arrested on March 4, 1997, before pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree child rape stemming from her unlawful affair with former student Vili Fualaau.

Though Letourneau died in 2020, their controversial relationship remains unforgettable.

Fualaau, now 42, was 12 years old when he began having a sexual relationship with Letourneau, then 34. People reported that Fualaau bet a friend $20 he would have sex with Letourneau, who at the time was in an unhappy marriage and began fantasizing about the preteen.

She eventually became pregnant with Fualaau’s child and was arrested on March 4, 1997, after her husband, Steve Letourneau, found love letters addressed to the child at their home.

At the time, Letourneau didn’t know her affair was a crime. She once told Barbra Walters, “I’m sure that I would have, you know, a penalty of some sort. I was imagining there’s probably some community service hours for situations like this, and I actually didn’t think that I needed an attorney, even.”

Letourneau and Fualaau welcomed two children together, daughters Audrey and Georgia. After the former teacher served about seven years in prison, she resumed her relationship with Fualaau when she was released. They were married in 2005.

Though the two were together for over a decade, Fualaau filed for legal separation in 2017. Their on-off relationship finally ended in 2019, one year before Letourneau died on July 6, 2020, from colorectal cancer at age 58.

After Letourneau’s death, Fualaau welcomed a daughter named Sophia in 2022 from another relationship, though details of his personal life are scarce.

Fualaau became a grandfather in 2024, when his and Letourneau’s daughter Georgia welcomed a baby boy. Their daughter Audrey also welcomed a son the following year.

In an interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz following Letourneau’s death, Fualaau looked back on their time together.

“She was my best friend,” he told Dr. Oz. “And I felt like she was actually the only person that actually cared, you know, considering my upbringing and her upbringing. A lot of things just made sense for the both of us and the way things happened.”

Of their final moments together, Fualaau recalled, “The last thing she told me is that I am the most important person to her and that everything is going to be OK.”