Even though he filed for divorce in 2017, a source close to Vili Fualaau said he lost a part of himself when his ex-wife Mary Kay Letourneau passed away in July 2020. Fualaau first met Letourneau when he was in sixth grade and she was his teacher.
The former educator went to prison for 7-and-a-half years as a result of her relationship with Fualaau after she was charged with rape and forced to register as a sex offender, which she remained the rest of her life. Nonetheless, following her prison sentence, Letourneau and Fualaau, who were already parents of two girls, continued their relationship and eventually got married.
Then, after 11 years of marriage, just shy of their 12-year anniversary, Fualaau filed for legal separation in 2017. The reason why Fualaau wanted to separate is unclear. However, during the last month of Letourneau’s life, it was Fualaau who was by her side taking care of her.
Source Talks About How Vili Fualaau Is Dealing With Mary Kay Letourneau’s Death
In a statement released by the Letourneau and Fualaau family, which was given exclusively to writer Danielle Bacher, the families shared that Mary Kay had been battling metastatic cancer for six months. And as a result, even though they were divorced, Fualaau kept tabs on Letourneau during her fight.
A source close to the former couple told People that despite no longer being husband and wife, they “still had love for each other.” And that it was when springtime rolled around, “the thinking was that she was going to need a miracle.”
“They didn’t speak every day, but she would update him on her cancer treatment. At the beginning, the talk was that she was going to beat it, that even though the prognosis wasn’t good, that she’d fight with everything she had, and that she had a shot of surviving it.”
Sadly that wasn’t the case and Letourneau, who is a mom of six, passed away on July 6.
As the source continued to tell People, Fualaau “lost a piece of himself. He understands how f— up everything was in how they got together. He’s not stupid. But he can’t turn off his feelings completely, and it’s a big loss for him. He talked to her right before she passed, and they said everything they needed to say.”
“The marriage had split up, but they still had love for each other. They had children together and he would always say that she was his first love. So of course he is sad at the loss. He’s sad for the girls, but he’s also sad for himself.”
As the source said, not only is Fualaau sad for himself, but he is also sad for his daughters who lost their mother. It’s unclear if Letourneau has already been laid to rest.