May December premiered on Netflix this weekend to a largely positive reception, with many praising masterful performances from Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman and Charles Melton. But it has also brought many viewers to research the real-life scandal the movie is based on: the story of Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau.
Letourneau, who worked as a teacher, had known Fualaau since he was in the second grade before she began sexually assaulting him in 1996 when he was 12 years old. She was 34 at the time.
She was soon arrested in March 1997 after they were discovered together and was sentenced to seven years in prison for child rape. Letourneau gave birth to her first child with Fualaau while awaiting sentencing, and while completing her sentence, Letourneau gave birth to their second daughter, Georgia. By the time he was 15 years old, Faulaau was already a father of two.
They married in 2005 after she completed her prison sentence and Fualaau successfully petitioned to remove the order of protection that kept them apart. Their marriage lasted until 2019, well after Fualauu officially filed for separation in 2017.
She soon died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 58.
Fualaau, who is now 40 years old, has continued his life since Letourneau’s death. He recently welcomed a third child from another relationship in 2022 and will soon become a first-time grandfather for his daughter Georgia, who is expecting.
Speaking to People, Georgia said her father had been very supportive of her pregnancy.
“They have been with me at almost every appointment, and they have just been my rocks,” she shared with the outlet earlier this year. “He’s already buying baby stuff for me and giving me hand-me-downs from my baby sister, which is nice. I just know that he’s going to be the greatest grandfather ever.”
Interviews with Fualaau and sources close to him revealed that he had been grappling with the fraught circumstances of his marriage by the time of Letourneau’s death.
A source close to Fualaau told People in 2020 that he had “lost a piece of himself” after Letourneau’s death. “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.”
Revealingly, Fualaau famously told Barbara Walters during a 2015 interview with Letourneau that he would not support his children if they were “sleeping with a teacher.”
“I don’t support younger kids being married or having a relationship with someone older. I don’t support it,” he said at the time.
If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.