Mary Kay Letourneau defends rape of her 12-year-old student, now husband

MARY Kay Letourneau is a convicted paedophile who had sex with her then 12-year-old student. But her reasoning for her actions is bizarre.

MARY Kay Letourneau was a 34-year-old teacher when she made headlines for having sex with one of her grade six students.

To this day the now 56-year-old insists she had no idea what she did was a crime.

Letourneau was a mother of four and still married to her first husband when she was convicted of the rape Vilo Fualaau. He was age 12 at the time — and just 13 when Letourneau had his first baby.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of felony second-degree rape of a child in 1997 and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Despite all this, Letourneau said she “did not know” she was committing was a crime.

In an interview with Channel 7’s Sunday Night, the former Seattle primary school teacher was quick to defend her actions — a defence she’s held from the beginning of the affair.

“I’ve said this over and over again. Had I’d known, if anyone knows my personality. Just the idea, this would count as a crime,” she said. “If someone had told me, if anyone had told me, there is a specific law that says this is a crime.”

When journalist Matt Doran asked her if she believed she was wrongly imprisoned, she adamantly responded, “absolutely”.

Mary Kay Letourneau made global headlines when she had a sexual encounter with her 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau.

They married in 2005 and share two children together, now aged 21 and 19.

After six months in jail, Letourneau was granted parole on the condition she did not see Fualaau, who was just 1.5 years older than her eldest son.

Less than a month later, police interrupted the couple having sex in a car.

She was then sent back to jail after violating her condition, and ordered to serve out the balance of her sentence. But by then she was already pregnant with Fualaau’s second child — her sixth — and gave birth in prison.

Letourneau still believes it wasn’t a crime to have sex with a 12-year-old boy. Picture: Sunday Night

Letourneau during a court hearing after violating her parole. She was still married dot the father of her first four children when she began her affair with Fualaau.

Audrey, 21, was born after Letourneau’s initial arrest, while Georgia, 19, was born behind bars. Both girls were raised by Mr Fualaau’s mother up until Letourneau’s release.

Letourneau and Mr Fualaau then married in 2005. But last year, he allegedly filed for separation however withdrew the request, despite admitting to Sunday Night there are problems within their marriage.

He said he had thought about leaving the relationship but Letourneau said she was still madly in love with her husband, now age 35. “Anyone that’s married knows that it’s a labour in love,” she said.

Letourneau gave birth to their first child after her initial arrest.

Here she is pictured pregnant with their second child.

During the Sunday Night interview, Letourneau jumped on the defence again when pressured by Doran to admit she “should have known better”.

Letourneau turned to her husband and repeatedly asked him “who was the boss, who was the boss back then”, saying that he had pursued her. “He did say he was in love with me,” she said. “Flaw me, I did the best I could.”

She had previously claimed how Mr Fualaau instigated the sexual relationship with his increasingly aggressive advances.

For the first time, the couple’s daughters spoke about growing up in such a famous household.

Audrey said it didn’t feel different to her and her sister because it wasn’t brought to their attention. “It’s kind of surprising to people but it’s normal for us because we’ve adapted to it,” she said.

The 21-year-old then said her father, who is just 13 years her senior, was like a “friend dad”.

Both Audrey and Georgia recently moved out of the family home. Letourneau and Mr Fualaau still live together.

Today, Letourneau works as a paralegal at the same court where she faced trial 21 years ago.

She hopes use her new skills in her fight to remove her name from the sex offenders’ registry.

Vili Fualaau, Mary Kay Letourneau and daughters, Audrey and Georgia.