Mary Kay Letourneau - the teacher jailed for raping a student she later married | Sunday Night

even now some two decades later you can't help but ask what was she thinking what was it that drove schoolteacher Mary Kay Letourneau to begin a secret affair with her twelve year old student Vili Fualaau mary said it was true love but no one else saw it that way she was jailed twice and even had two children - the underage villi but somehow the relationship endured remarkably they're still together today here's Matt Doran [Music] I really look up this way that's cute love it it all looks normal enough just gonna keep eating okay mom dad I didn't ask you to get in now did I and two children a picnic beside a picturesque like that's but this family is anything but normal what about these as parents you've got some good parents here I'm trying to work out where the looks come from whether you've got mums looks or dad's looks or it's a mixture of both I think it's a good mixture of both yeah for a brief time this was the most talked about family on earth Mary Kay Letourneau made world news when she seduced her 12 year old student Vili Fualaau teacher who had sex with a 13 year old sixth grader was 280 Mary Kay Letourneau the last person you would suspect of being a molester of children Vili is now her husband then there's their children audrey born while their mother was on trial and georgia born in prison do you kind of understand yeah what what all the furor all the interest was about at the time I think so okay I understand about it [Music] it was wrong and I am sorry as will say tonight this is a family still grappling with the truth of what happened more than two decades ago and who was to blame I was pursued and I didn't think about it I did not think about it didn't but that's not an excuse for any crime he's at four and I'm not saying you can't just go I didn't think about it see you later sorry no was it right was it wrong I don't know [Music] what you will have to decide tonight is whether this case amounts to a love story or whether this is something altogether different one of the most extraordinary prolonged cases of child abuse we have known Mary Kay Letourneau was a much liked and respected teacher at Sherwood elementary school she was married and had four children she first met Billy when he was just 8 years old is that when you were here his year - he was one of my students back then I hardly remember of course I remember his name so and I knew the full of family Billy came from a broken home his dad was married five times and he had 17 brothers and sisters this would be a test of your memory Billy I mean you would have been eight or so back then do you have any memory of those years like I remember hiding in a in the closet of the closet in there and how in the classroom and I me and my friends we used to be in there hiding classroom from Mary why don't you say what you were doing hiding in there he was fighting in the club no what did you tell me you were doing which is sad to me is like yeah we hide in the closet and we'd hope you'd walk past if we could look under your skirt I'm like what the heck that's what he told me remembered I'm like wow wow I had no idea things wouldn't get physical though for another four years when acting on a dare 12 year-old Billy made his move during summer school I remember she was very pretty it was more of you know showing off to a cousin of mine like betting because just to brag about girls and that we were young like oh that girl likes you no she doesn't and then like oh yeah I'll bet you that you can't get what's-her-name so I ended up taking a taking the bet and pursued Mary isn't it incredible it's just incredible to think that what started as a bit of showing off yeah and following through on a dare or a bet yeah has led to you know where we are now Mary and I became like really close and then I kind of forgot about the bet when Mary did really make it clear to you that he was interested in you physically sexually I guess can you remember that moment you must remember that moment I just remember yes there was one point and I said put that away I just meant the idea there was a moment where he said that he was he did say who was in love with me and I was it scared me scared me too and that was before anything physical between you both he said he was in love oh yeah yeah like I don't know yeah like week the month that um mm-hmm Mary when did you first realize I have feelings for a student I feel kind of awkward at answering that because it's sort of wanting to connect it to this was a student-teacher relationship did you do anything wrong I've always said you know it was should I've run from him I did at one point say say you have to go Mary and Vili tried to keep their relationship secret but were caught together by police the Des Moines police were called by someone saying they thought there was a drunk driver in the parking lot down at the marina lawyer David Gerke was a friend and neighbor of Mary who would go on to represent her at trial and they got there and Mary pops out of the van and she's wearing a t-shirt anything else they couldn't tell but just whether it was a t-shirt and panties or a t-shirt it drew their attention then there was a young child sleeping Billy so that raised some questions and Mary smart and quick Genaro I'm his teacher his mom knows he's with me one of the officers though said this doesn't look right doesn't smell right there's something needs to be investigated further maybe it's legit maybe not did that nobody did imagine it was the reverse imagine say you know a male in his mid-30s had been found with a teenage girl in the car oh yeah no you got you go right to jail and Mary was just allowed to drive off it was just the opposite it's Mary we know her we love her the mom said it's okay for the boy to be there so obviously there's not a crime but quickly rumors began to spread through the tight-knit community not only was there an affair between a female teacher and the student but the teacher was pregnant it was front page in the Seattle Times the rumor was a Highline School District teacher a female was impregnated by a sixth grade student and that really got tongues buzzing who could that be all the teachers are talking and guessing and all are back then one Friday night I got a phone call from my good friend Lee and he said David it's Mary that's all he had to say her I know immediately what he meant what he was talking about I couldn't believe it you don't put it's Mary with that rumor but despite the gossip Mary and Vili continued their illicit relationship on a number of occasions she even brought Billy back to her family home there were rumors and perhaps I can try and confirm or deny them with you about some sex acts on the roof of that house I wasn't there I can't comment was that a week I believe that was a week that was an attorney week that's unprecedented on on television I've never quite seen that before I've heard the rumor but I've never heard specifically from Mary or Billy whether or not that happened but much lighter in a court deposition Billy would claim it was true we went outside and we went on top of a roof and yeah we had sex on the roof yeah that's about as brazen as it gets yeah but remember it was love they were in love that made it okay at the time Mary was consummating what she called her real love for Billy she was also living at home with her husband Steve raising their four children what about your children Mary it must have been unimaginably tough on them that's why I asked him do get it go get away from us go and do your thing that's making it seem like Billy was relentlessly pursuing you you were the adult you can say that I am saying that I was by age I was by age and by maturity oh you may be you were a teacher Mary you can't say I was immature you don't know him no but I don't need to know him in this discussion he's the child I'm talking about you who was the boss mm-hmm who was the boss what who was the bus there was being pursuing you who was the boss back then this is ridiculous no sweat who was just say just say who was the boss well I knew was what I knew back then who was the bass he was 13 Mary but who was the boss this is getting weird who is the baddest who I'm pursuing the relationship who is the boss well I was the pursuer yes Mary even as you're wearing this now come on he was 13 does that matter it absolutely matters oh well flaw me flaw me as a as an as an adult yes flaw me I did the best I could I mean flaw me character flaw Oh art has always been a big part of Vili Fualaau life his affair with Mary Kay Letourneau actually began at a summer school art camp in 1996 Mary was 34 villain 12 I think we at least we spoke to each other as if in that summer we felt like boy it was boyfriend/girlfriend it felt really great I'm just saying it felt great because we were so close his friends and then just to not be his teacher in any capacity and just saying I don't know what that what was dramatic going on but I mean inside of us probably yeah when things when we realized I don't know you called me your girlfriend huh dude yeah a few months into their secret affair Mary fell pregnant to villi but she was still married and living with her husband Steve Latour No and their four children he suspected she'd been unfaithful then he discovered dozens of notes and letters that confirmed his wife was in a sexual relationship with villi she was specific enough for me to know that it involved a boy and ideas and thought she had about him and just things that were just off-the-wall way out there things that were definitely adult a nature Steve moved out and soon after a relative of Steve's reported Mary's affair with villi to her School District in March 1997 she was arrested and charged with child life to this day Mary claimed she had no idea she was committing a crime if someone had told me if anyone had told me there is a specific law that says that you this is a crime outside that society if you had someone on here that knew Mary back then did Mary know would Mary have known this ordinary of none it's not even about should it it's of course it's a Bachelor it's exactly about sure I did not know I have said this over and over again had I have known if anyone knows my personality just the idea that you could you this would count as a crime [Music] but it was a crime and Mary needed a lawyer she hired her friend and neighbor David Goerke what was Mary's reaction when you first said those words you have effectively raped a little boy but we were in love it's love I didn't make him do anything of anything he was wanting it he was pushing for it we were in love how can it be a crime and I had to repeat many times and in different ways why it's a crime she really believed she'd committed no crime the cool hearing made international news the scandal that shocked the nation the tabloids could he get enough of it and what about the impact on Mary's husband at the time I do know that he was very angry and bitter he was attractive he was a high school college athlete worked hard and now your beautiful wife is screwing a kid not you can you imagined the ridicule he gets from other people in your family hon the self-doubt that she goes through your mind like am I not a man you have to go to a 13 year old boy while today Mary denies any wrongdoing during her court hearing she did admit to breaking the law your honor I did something that I had no right to do morally or legally it was wrong and I am sorry even though Vili had been 12 when the affair began she reached a deal with prosecutors to get a lesser penalty by pleading guilty to the second-degree rape of a 13 year old I give you my word that it will not happen again [Music] two months after being charged Mary gave birth to Audrey when Mary was eventually sentenced to six months jail Audrey was placed in the care of Billy and his mother why should it was wrong Lily it was wrong morally morally I think maybe we should have waited he didn't have the maturity to make a decision like that no no I would say no there was only one of the parties that could stand back at a distance from a bird's-eye view and say hang on what am I doing here I think about that kind of stuff a lot even now you know because I'm 35 now so I think about it you know like could I have ever done that I've ever been with a girl that's 13 years old right now and I I just can't see myself doing it despite her conviction imprisonment and the public condemnation Mary's relationship with Billy was far from over she was released from prison after three months on strict parole conditions forbidding any contact with Billy but again she defied them all how soon after getting out of prison do you think she was back with him immediately how was she caught she was sitting in a car they had been to a movie they were sitting outside making out the windows were steamy and a Seattle police officer drove by and saw the steamy windows so he pulled behind him turned the spotlight on and Billy started to leave they said halt and one - Mary Mary gave a fake name at first unfortunately for Mary everybody in town knew who married eternal rest by sight Mary was arrested on the spot and hold back to court to face the same judge who had ordered her to have no contact with Vili within weeks of your release from jail you purposely violated the conditions of your sentence Mary was sentenced to a maximum seven and a half years in prison to make things even worse she was pregnant again Mary and Vili second child Georgia would be born in jail do you think you were wrongly imprisoned absolutely why because you don't know our story but we do we do you should never have gone to jail if you knew us and if you knew our the intimacy's which guess what our nobody's business now I've never heard you say that before you shouldn't have gone to prison I did the best that I felt at the time the decision that I made and I tried to take the guilty plea back when I realized I was tricked and coerced into it it's just absurd to think that 13 year-olds are not having sex and they're not pursuing it in a very deliberate knowing way it's absurd a lot of them are having sex for 34 years now but are they having sex it's not relevant it is absolutely relevant are they having sex I don't see it as not having sex are they having sex I'm certain that they are but how is that relevant to this case they're not children so should we rip out the laws and say it's afraid for all 13 year olds with whoever they like no because there are cases and it's called strict liability there are cases where there could be abuse there could be so you have to have a lot it acts as a deterrent because there are people who might pursue and abuse a situation looks mighty fine now I'm gonna get me Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau have navigated more troubled waters than most but they're still together Mary gave Illya runabout for his recent 35th birthday she is now 56 I love him more today than I did when I was in love I hope everybody in marriage gets their back at the time had its inception before this had evolved into something like love wasn't this just a physical relationship between a woman and a little boy well you shouldn't say a little boy he was 13 I know but you shouldn't say a little boy well a teenage boy well you know some people are incarcerated in this state at age 13 and there's treated as an adult Mary was an adult a 34 year old teacher when she first began her affair with 12 year old villain these violations are profoundly disturbing in a play deal she admitted wiping a 13-year old and was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail while in prison she secretly sent villi love letters and the pair had an arrangement allowing villi to have girlfriends I actually dated while I was as she was in there I wanted to live my my life I mean there was no contact that hard to hear Mary oh that he date oh wait oh no we had an agreement I didn't even was the agreement we did yeah you were like go oh yeah I knew he needed so so yeah so we had this agreement that she was gonna be away for a long time and I was gonna be you know thought to wait to just to whatever you know whatever's meant to be is going to be it was kind of your youth yeah one of the things I heard was that the letter was sent that for every person you're with you would take an inch of Billie's open yet let me ask Millie if that's around is it a rumor I use a joke in a letter you wrote is it joke that's so that's a very frightening jargon nice I as a man that is a very frightening joke while Mary was in jail Vili and his mother suna raised their two daughters Audrey and Georgia I had no idea what I was doing it's kind of like you just don't know how to swim you know he's like oh what is that that analogy swimmer you drown now did it feel to you at Toms like you might drown like you're drowning oh yeah yeah I'm not gonna lie there's been plenty of times where I felt like just let go and just going really kept going for the sake of his children you see the dinosaurs behind him when Mary was released from prison the couple were determined to live together as a family first-timer honey you and now it was legal because Vili was 21 you have to hold it there Audrey is now 21 in Georgia 19 do you kind of understand you know what all the furor all the interest was about at the time I think so yeah I understand about it just like how is surprising to people but um does it feel any different to you guys I mean you say Matt loving minute family well yeah it isn't feeling different just because it's not really brought to our attention or just because we grew up with it so we're adopted to it yes is he feeling dead to you or is he he's just dad no everything feels like young God now that I'm like at that like adult age to where I'm like I know we don't like to even imagine it you just turn 21 and it was like oh my what I mean that's like the only legal thing I can think of in my head oh I'm 21 that means I can do this but like I'm trying dad like a friend dad that's the perfect endorsement Billy [Music] in 2005 Mary and Vili were married so many other people in your situation might have said this is too hard I'm gonna walk away you stayed the course yeah well I wanted both my kids to have both parents under the same roof something I've never had so I did it for them so there you go girl get Aires one get it the first sand dollar of the day georgia was seven and audrey was eight when Mary was released from prison she admits she was a strict mom there's one there may be others what were you strict about I was about push-up bras she literally cut the padding out of my raw eggs it's unnecessary and it's unnatural and on so many levels okay just leave it at that and there was one piece of advice that Mary regularly shared with her girls I did say it every morning when they left our pride cry right yeah I love you now go and do the right thing and insight that still makes you emotional even now to think about that yeah I love you now go and do the right thing it's like what else matters did you do the right thing you know what I'm not going to continue with you trying to have me answer that question I told you I did my best every single day and I live my life that way and I did and in that situation it doesn't even matter what matters now is that Mary is doing her best to be a good mother not only to Audrey and Georgia but to her other four children with whom she has a strained relationship [Music] [Applause] she's also living her life on the right side of the law practicing as a legal clerk in the same courthouse where she famously appeared more than two decades ago it's a different Mary one because I was very pregnant at the there's that so just saying yeah it's a different Mary and it was 21 years ago this month so that's a long time Vili once dreamed of becoming a professional artist those ambitions overtaken by the responsibilities of being a father while he was still a child these days he works as a builder's labourer on a work side away from Mary he admitted there are problems with their marriage you filed for separation you toyed with that have you ever thought about actually saying this is too hard I need to call it quits I have is there something you still think about Oh every now then no I'll talk about that as a 35 year old man now to look back at your 13 year old self and to give him advice as a man what would you say don't do it I don't know you know I can't regret my after you know my two daughters and the entire life that I've already lived you know I've learned that regretful is actually a bad thing to regret anything you know everything that's already happened was already meant to be you know it's it's my journey through life so I you know I got to live it out and that journey with Mary has just entered a new phase the children have moved out and for the first time they are empty nesters are you still in love I'll say yes now I think that marriage is a is a if there's a labor like I would say anyone that's married well no there's a labor of love that term is there for a reason so in love is a in love I'm pretty I would say there's all y'all I've seen marriages where they make it work they might have fallen out of love somewhere in the relationship but they somehow just make it work what does the future look like for the both of you where does the story of Mary and Vili end that Mary does her best every single day and that's how this story ends mm-hmm and for Billie I'll go with that [Music] beautiful day [Music] you

Channel: 7NEWS Spotlight

Views: 2,310,920

Rating: 4.5708246 out of 5

Keywords: Sunday Night, News, Channel 7, Australia, Australian News, Current Affairs, world news, headlines, story, stories, documentary, interview, Melissa Doyle, Mary Kay Letourneau, Vili Fualaau, matt doran, 7news, seven news, teacher, student

Id: 7mowKsGWuW4

Length: 31min 4sec (1864 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 08 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/kittybarofskee]

She’s insane. Poor Villi. He seems normal.

She might be drunk in this interview.

[u/Luckiebastherd]

What a strange interview, but then all of their interviews have been strange. I think what stands out to me is that Villi seems to have a deep sadness and his affect appeared confused and uncertain. Mary did a lot of talking for him and that’s when I saw it the most. And in many ways, it seems like their relationship was still ruled by a significant power differential...Mary being the one with power. And I think it’s safe to say that she was delusional. The impact of someone not acknowledging their power and actions often leads to gaslighting those in your sphere. I’m kind of rambling but that interview was a lot to process. I’ll be curious if he is more vocal about how he felt/feels without having to look at her for approval. Poor guy.

[u/Bree7702]

Her dad had a long term affair with one of his students too. (Not a child student though) I think he even had a second family with that student that her mom found out about years later. So she grew up in a household of chaos and dysfunction too. However Mary was still a child rapist and seems to not even have recognized it all these years later. She seemed to have zero self awareness which I was kind of surprised by. I've always wondered if Villi's mom would have refused to raise their girls when she went to prison and gave the kids up for adoption if Villi would have been able to move on and have a normal life if there was no reason for them to remain in contact. Their daughters seem like they are very well adjusted and good kids though. Hopefully now Villi can move on and have a relationship with someone his own age.

[u/jessiejessie84]

She just died of cancer.

[u/PukedtheDayAway]

I hadn't thought about these two since I heard they were married and happy. I never agreed with the relationship and now it just disgusts me. Being older, watching Vilis face when she answers all the questions...

Her talking about how when he was in the 2nd grade play a game of looking up her skirt.

I'm sorry for all her children, I'm sorry for Vili. What a crazy life

[u/MarshallDillion]

‘Aloud’ ?