In this July 20, 1997, file photo, Mary Kay Letourneau holds the baby, in Normandy Park, Wash., that was fathered by a boy she once taught as an elementary school teacher. Image: AP/Betty Udesen/The Seattle Times
Before her death, Mary Kay Letourneau, a convicted child rapist who eventually married that same former student, was able to make peace with her family, according to a report from People.
Mary Kay, 58, died on July 6 of cancer, as per a statement from the families of her former spouses: her first husband Steve Letourneau and later Vili Fualaau.
The schoolteacher was arrested in 1997 for having sexual relations with Fualaau who was then her sixth-grade student. At that time, he was 12 or 13; she was 34 and had four kids with her ex-husband Steve.
Mary Kay pleaded guilty to second-degree child rape and spent seven years in prison. She had two kids with Fualaau who were born by the time he was 15. Mary Kay divorced Letourneau while she was in prison. After serving her sentence, Mary Kay and Fualaau got married in 2005; they divorced last year after 14 years of marriage.
Amidst her controversial past, she reportedly was able to make peace with her ex-husbands and kids.
“When it was clear that she wasn’t going to make it, she made her peace with everyone in her life,” a source close to Mary Kay told People in a report on Monday, July 13. “She died having made peace with Vili, Steve and all six of her kids. Everyone said everything that needed to be said.”
Fualaau was by his ex-wife’s side two months before she died, her lawyer David Gehrke told “Today” on July 8. Gehrke said Letorneau was diagnosed with cancer about 6 or 7 months ago.
“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 in the report. “So yes, they were divorced and they had their spats, but they were always in love with each other.” Niña V. Guno/JB
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