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Mary Kay Letourneau Wrote Letters Apologizing to Family, Friends Before Death: ‘She Made a Lot of Mistakes’
Mary Kay Letourneau reportedly wrote letters to friends and family members apologizing for her “mistakes” prior to her death from stage 4 cancer.
“She had a lot of wrongs to right,” a legal source, who knew Letourneau for more than 20 years and received a note from her, told People in a story published on Friday, October 15. “She had a lot of things to say. She made a lot of mistakes in her 58 years — not just the big one everyone knows about — and she wanted everyone to know that she was sorry for the mistakes she made.”
The Seattle, Washington, school teacher made national headlines in 1996 when she was caught having a sexual relationship with her then-student Vili Fualaau. Letourneau and Fualaau, now 38, lied to officials at first, claiming he was 18 at the time of their tryst, but he was only 12 or 13.
As for Letourneau, she was 34 years old and still married to her first husband, Steve Letourneau, with whom she welcomed four children.
The Tustin, California, native later pled guilty to second-degree rape charges, and while she was awaiting sentencing, Letourneau gave birth to her first daughter with Fualaau, daughter Audrey, in 1997. Upon her release from behind bars in 1998, authorities discovered their forbidden relationship had resumed, leading her previous plea agreement to be revoked. A judge sentenced her to seven and a half years in prison for violating a no-contact order and during her stint in jail, Letourneau gave birth to her and Fualaau’s second child together, Georgia.
After serving her time, Letourneau and Fualaau, who was 21 at the time, got married in May 2005. They stayed together until he filed for legal separation in 2017. However, the paperwork was later withdrawn. In March 2019, Fualaau resumed the process again, and their separation was granted in August 2019.
Mary Kay Letourneau.
“I don’t know if he received a note, but I do know that she made things right with him as best as she could,” the source told People. “She loved him until the end.”
“She knew, especially near the end, that the ends don’t justify the means, and that even her wonderful daughters and long marriage didn’t excuse how she got there,” added the source. “And she hoped that no one else would ever make the mistakes that she made.”
Letourneau died at the age of 58 from stage 4 cancer in July 2020, and despite their split, Fualaau said he was there to be by her side during her final moments.
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