Mary Kay Letourneau: The Romance That was a Crime

Vili Fualaau

As an adult, Vili has committed a crime. According to the New York Daily News, at 12:20 a.m. on December 22, 2005, an officer in SeaTac, Washington spotted a silver Cadillac DeVille going 55 m.p.h. in a 35 m.p.h. zone and pulled the driver over for speeding.

Vili was behind the wheel of his wife's car. She was not in the vehicle but a male passenger was. The Daily News article quotes King County Sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart as reading from an incident report describing that passenger as "very intoxicated, almost passed out."

The officer noticed alcohol on Vili's breath and saw that his eyes were blood-shot. He asked him if he had been drinking and Vili admitted he had had four shots of vodka. The officer asked Vili to take a field sobriety test that he declined. In two separate blood-alcohol breath tests, Vili blew .135 and .133. The legal limit for driving under the influence in Washington State is .08.

Vili pled not guilty and hired attorney Scott Stewart to defend him. A jury convicted Vili of drunken driving on April 28, 2006.

Mary and Vili gave an interview to People magazine that was published on May 15, 2006. Living on the money they received for the TV rights to their wedding, they make their home at a rented three-bedroom in Normandy Park, Washington. Mary's four children from her marriage to Steve Letourneau, including the oldest two who are now adults, visit the couple regularly as do Mary and Vili's own daughters who are still in the custody of Soona Fualaau.

Mary claimed that their lives are not too different from those of couples without sensational histories. "We do normal things," Mary told People interviewers. "We all went out to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, then over to Blockbuster to get a movie."

Vili admits there are tensions between him and Mary's children from her previous marriage. "I feel like I don't really have a place except that I'm their mother's husband," he says. "I feel out of line asking them to clean up, but I have a right to — it's my house."

Despite the age difference, Mary says the marriage is structured along traditional gender lines. "He is the master of the house," she explains. "He can be strict or sensitive."

The artistically talented Vili hopes to become a professional tattooist. He practices the craft on inanimate objects like grapefruits and has tattooed a family crest on a cousin.

Gaining custody of their daughters is the most urgent item on the Fualaaus' agenda. Mary looks forward to a day when she and her husband can take their daughters on outings "and not have to ask the state or notify Vili's mom."

Vili acknowledges that he cannot help but think about what his life would be like if things had been different. He says, "I think, what would my life have been like if I had never made a move on Mary? What if I had kept it as a crush and left it at that? Where would I be and where would she be — what would life be like?"

However, he realizes the futility of wondering about things that cannot be changed, concluding, "This is my life and I accept it."