Mary Kay Letourneau/Vili Fualaau

[namkcuR]

Any thoughts about this story? For those that don't know, the short version is that Letouneau was an elementary schoolteacher in the early-mid 90s who got involved with a 12 year old student, Vili Fualaau. They got to the point of having intercourse, and she got pregnant with his child. It couldn't be hidden anymore after that and a close friend of hers turned her in. Cops busted a school staff meeting and arrested her. She got sentenced to 7 years for second-degree child rape but only served 3 months because of good behavior. While she was in prison, her husband, with whom she had four children, filed for divorce. She also had the child with Vili while in prison. When she got out, she had contact with Vili, which was a violation of the terms of her early release, and so she was sent back to jail to serve the full 7 and a half years. In the short time period between jail sentences, she got pregnant again with Vili's second child. She had the child while in prison. Both children were in the custody of Vili's mother. Letourneau served her full sentence and was released late last year. She and Vili, now in his early 20s, are still together and raising their two children. They will be married soon.

 

[BVS]

If the roles were reversed, the man would still be in prison.

 

[BAW]

I think Mary Kay is a mentally unstable woman who is living in a dream world. She truly doesn't believe she has done anything wrong and I feel really sorry for the 6 kids she has brought into the world.

OT but might shed some insight into her psychological makeup: Her father was John Schmitz, a super ultra conservative Republican Congressman from California. He portrayed himself as a staunchly Catholic family man with 7 children but his poltical career ended when it was revealed that he had a pregnant mistress and a 15 month old child. This was huge news here in Orange County because the mistress was arrested for child abuse after one of the kids almost lost his penis after a hair had been wrapped around it, cutting off circulation and she didn't notice.

As for Vili, I think he is a scheming opportunist who is going to milk this for all its worth. He wrote a book detailing their sex life, he freely admits he didn't exactly wait for her while she was in prison and now he's sitting back watching the wedding gifts roll in. I give it 5 years at the most.

 

[melon]

She's finished her prison sentence and he's 21 years old. Honestly, there's nothing that can be done. And if they get a divorce in 5 years? Well, it will have lasted longer than most celebrity marriages.

As for "role reversals"? I don't know. Part of me agrees with you, but, at the same time, part of me wonders if Vili's constant insistence that this was "consentual" didn't have something to do with the lenience of the sentence. Sure, it was statutory rape and prosecuted accordingly, but it is certainly difficult to throw a book at someone for being a "child molester" when the "child" is claiming he wanted it. Overall, this is probably one of the strangest cases ever brought to court.

But, like I said, they're not doing anything illegal anymore.

Melon

 

[Seabird]

They really do seem to be in love. I think maybe it's time to overcome this prejudice of society too, and realize that all young people involved with older people aren't 'victims' and the older ones aren't always 'sexual predators.' Of course in most cases it's improper and not consensual, but this proves that there really was something to their relationship and she did not belong in jail. I wish them happiness.

Damn I'm jealous of her face and hair and bod, she's my age but I don't look that hot!

 

[BAW]

Its true they aren't doing anything illegal right now and maybe they really are in love but look at all the people that were hurt along the way. There are 6 kids involved that for the most part have lost their mother. I think she has pretty limited visitation with her 4 kids from her first marriage and Vili's mother is raising the other 2. True love or not, it seems like a pretty high price to pay to be together.

I don't wish them any ill will but its kind of hard to forget that he was 12 when this started and she was in a position of responsibility as his teacher.

 

[u2valleygirl]

a teacher going after her 6th grade student is lewd.

 

[Macfistowannabe]

I think they're both using each other, Mary Kay lost sanity years ago, along with her husband and teaching job. Vili and his mommy became greedy schemists who were after the big bucks. Sounds like child prostitution via lawsuit if you ask me.

 

[Muggsy]

They really do seem to be in love. I think maybe it's time to overcome this prejudice of society too, and realize that all young people involved with older people aren't 'victims' and the older ones aren't always 'sexual predators.' Of course in most cases it's improper and not consensual, but this proves that there really was something to their relationship and she did not belong in jail. I wish them happiness.

Damn I'm jealous of her face and hair and bod, she's my age but I don't look that hot!

yeah... young people can involve with older people... but think about a 13 old kid who has a child... he was still a kid and he had to raise two little girls. If we were in a country with a life expectance of 40 years that would be an everyday thing... but it is supossed that now kids have plenty of time to mature and become integral persons... Maybe some will say "but there are grown people who are inmature" yes, that's true, but what i'm saying is that here we have the chance of living plenty lives and we are able to decide what to do in each stage.

and he is a boy.. so he didn't suffer the consequences of a early pregnancy... if he were a girl maybe she couldn't have the baby for health reasons.

I think that we live in a contradiction... this society doesn't let the kids be kids and it forces them to grow quickly but it punishes them if they do something wrong because of that. Just look all that crappy teen magazines... they encourage girls to look and act sexy and provocative but the grown people who writes them are the same who discriminate the girls who get pregnant or have an early sex live.

 

[Angela Harlem]

How a middle aged woman can become sexually attracted to a 12 year old, is beyond me. He might be mature for his age (or was back then) but Jesus. Something is wrong there.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

How a middle aged woman can become sexually attracted to a 12 year old, is beyond me. He might be mature for his age (or was back then) but Jesus. Something is wrong there.

Yes indeed. They both seem mentally unstable to me, so I guess that's why their relationship works- I don't know. I understand two people of widely differing ages being attracted to each other, but not this case. Not a 12 year old, and not a teacher who is in a position of authority.

I saw them last week on some show, and they were sitting in front of a pile of gifts that strangers had sent them through their online registry. I guess some people just have money to burn

 

[MumblingBono]

That young man did well for himself. May Kay = hot.

That's the long and short of it for me.

 

[verte76]

I've heard bits and pieces of this story. It's sick, a teacher becoming involved with a twelve-year old student.

 

[dandy]

I saw them last week on some show, and they were sitting in front of a pile of gifts that strangers had sent them through their online registry. I guess some people just have money to burn

"excuse me, do you have any cards that tastefully express the sentiment 'glad your relationship is now legal'?"

BVS is right, if the genders were reversed in this case, the man would still be in jail. i find it interesting that we're more inclined to call a woman offender "mentally unstable", as opposed to a man who would just be a sick pervert. equally interesting is how if this had been a girl and a man, the girl would be dressed up as an innocent victim, where as vili was just a horny teenage boy looking to score with his hot teacher.

 

[BVS]

How a middle aged woman can become sexually attracted to a 12 year old, is beyond me. He might be mature for his age (or was back then) but Jesus. Something is wrong there.

It was the peach fuzz mustache.

 

[Irvine511]

If the roles were reversed, the man would still be in prison.

and likewise, if they were both men.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

i find it interesting that we're more inclined to call a woman offender "mentally unstable", as opposed to a man who would just be a sick pervert. equally interesting is how if this had been a girl and a man, the girl would be dressed up as an innocent victim, where as vili was just a horny teenage boy looking to score with his hot teacher.

I agree - but I do think she's a sick pervert, and I also think he's a victim. Maybe what makes people think differently is the fact that their relationship has lasted and they are getting married-how many of these situations end up that way? I'm not saying that makes it morally right and acceptable, it doesn't.

 

[U2Kitten]

It's their choice We don't know what's in their hearts, it's not for us to judge.

 

[pax]

 

[melon]

Heh...we could beat ourselves up about it. I just think more practically. She's already been prosecuted and sentenced for her crime. She's already served her sentence. He's now old enough to consent, and they're unrelated.

This now goes into my "Oh well, who cares" file folder. For their sake, I hope they have a fine life. But if they screw their lives up? "Oh well, who cares." I have more important things to think about.

Melon

 

[U2Kitten]

Just think, there was a time when homosexuals were labeled 'sick' and 'perverted' for their love, too. If we don't understand it, that's no reason to call names and stereotype.

"If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad"

--Cheryl Crowe

 

[coemgen]

The line has to be drawn somewhere U2Kitten. A grown woman sleeping with a minor is wrong for a number of reasons and should never be considered "OK" just because they're "in love."

It bugs me that she's become a celebrity now. Commercials for all those celebrity shows like ET and Extra are giving people all the juicy details on the wedding. Come on people!

 

[pax]

I think she was being sarcastic.

 

[ewen]

Just think, there was a time when homosexuals were labeled 'sick' and 'perverted' for their love, too. If we don't understand it, that's no reason to call names and stereotype.

said by someone who makes judgements on the other people and thinks they're evil because of something you don't believe in.

 

[coemgen]

I think she was being sarcastic.

Sarcasm's sometimes harder to pick up in these things.

I'll just be over here if you need me.

 

[pax]

No, no, coemgen, it's okay. The was for U2Kitten, who really ought to know that we're talking about two very different things here.

 

[U2Kitten]

said by someone who makes judgements on the other people and thinks they're evil because of something you don't believe in.

Yeah, I'm being sarcastic, because so many people who yell 'choice' over abortion are the first ones to judge someone else for something they don't support. See, choice only works for something YOU choose to justify, huh? It's the hypocrisy of the whole thing that makes me so sick and I can't resist pointing it out.

But seriously, are they hurting anyone else? (we don't even know for sure how the kids feel, they may be supportive) Leave them alone.

 

[pax]

Yeah, I'm being sarcastic, because so many people who yell 'choice' over abortion are the first ones to judge someone else for something they don't support. See, choice only works for something YOU choose to justify, huh? It's the hypocrisy of the whole thing that makes me so sick and I can't resist pointing it out.

But seriously, are they hurting anyone else? Leave them alone.

U2Kitten, this thread has nothing to do with abortion. Stop dragging abortion into every single thread in which you participate in FYM. Your insistence upon resurrecting this issue at every turn when everyone here knows very well that you are opposed to legal abortion is tiresome at best and offensive at worst, because you have no idea whether or not some people here may have once been faced quite personally with the issue.

Learn to start "resisting."

 

[Irvine511]

But seriously, are they hurting anyone else? (we don't even know for sure how the kids feel, they may be supportive) Leave them alone.

the legal argument is that since he is a minor, he is unable to give consent. thus, she, the adult, is hurting and exploiting him, the child, in the eyes of the law.

 

[BAW]

But seriously, are they hurting anyone else? (we don't even know for sure how the kids feel, they may be supportive) Leave them alone.

Well, her 4 older kids have said through their father that they are embarrased and disgusted with their mother and want nothing to do with her. She chose a 12 year old over them. So I would say yes, they are hurting someone.

The two younger kids were both born in prison and got to know their mother at visiting day. They are being raised by their grandmother instead of their mother. They get to see the woman who gave birth to them 2 hours a week because she is now a registered sex offender and their father is the "victim" Again yes, they are hurting someone.

If you choose to have them, your children come first, not your 12 year old lover. The fact that he's an adult now and no crime is being committed doesn't change the circumstances of how their relationship started.