Mary Kay Letourneau has died at the age of 58.
The public figure, who garnered worldwide infamy in the late ’90s for starting an illegal relationship with her then 13-year-old student, died of stage 4 cancer. Letourneau’s attorney confirmed news of her passing to NBC.
Letourneau was 34-years-old when she and Vili Fualaau, a sixth grader at the time, began a sexual relationship. In 1997, while awaiting sentencing on second-degree rape charges of Fualaau, the former Washington school teacher gave birth to their first daughter, Audrey.
At the time, Letourneau was ordered to spend six months in jail and stay away from Fualaau, however upon her release in 1998, authorities discovered that the pair had resumed their relationship. Letourneau’s plea agreement was revoked and she served a seven-and-a-half year prison sentence.
Letourneau gave birth to the couple’s second daughter, Georgia, while behind bars in 1998. Upon her release in 2004, Letourneau and Fualaau, then 21, married. They filed for legal separation in 2017. Letourneau had four children from her first marriage, which ended at the time of her trial.
