Mary Kay Letourneau splits from former student husband 20 years after illicit affair

Kay Letourneau and her husband Vili Fualaau have separated more than 20 years after the former teacher and 12-year-old student's illicit affair sparked international controversy.

Letourneau was 34 and a mother of four when she was jailed for seven and a half years after pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree child rape when their sexual relationship was exposed in 1996.

The couple, who met when Letourneau was a teacher at Fualaau's Seattle middle school, were forced to go public when Letourneau became pregnant with Fualaau's child. They had their second child while she was behind bars and later married in 2005 when she got out.

But 20 years later, the couple, whose romance sparked national outrage, have legally separated after Fualaau filed for divorce, PeoplePeople.

A source reportedly told People the couple had been “having issues for a while now” but their attempts to work through them had failed.

“They’re still committed to being good parents to their children,” the source added.

While the reasons for the split are not known, the source said there was no third party involved.

Letourneau’s attorney David Gehrke confirmed it was Fualaau who filed for separation, adding “When one person is unhappy in the relationship, the other person can’t be happy either”.

“I’m convinced they were totally in love,” Gehrke said.

After the controversial relationship was revealed, a friend told People in 1998 the pair wanted to be together and were “drawn together like magnets”.

The couple themselves have also given interviews revealing more about their relationship and parenting, one with People in 2006 and again in 2015 with ABC’s Barbara Walters.