Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Larry King Live
Interview with Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau
Aired June 17, 2006 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Tonight, Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau, their love shocked America and sent her to jail for more than seven years. She was a 34-year-old mother of four when she first slept with her sixth grade student. And now this controversial couple's just celebrated their one year wedding anniversary and they're the parents of two kids; Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau for the hour from their home in Seattle next on LARRY KING LIVE.
Good evening. We're at the home of Vili Fualaau and Mary Kay Letourneau in beautiful Seattle, Washington. Theirs is an incredible story. Here's how it started.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): It's a relationship that's generated a whole lot of headlines and sparked controversy around the world. Ten years ago, 34-year-old Mary Kay Letourneau was caught having an affair with her sixth grade student Vili Fualaau but what made the affair even more shocking was that she was married and the mother of four, her oldest son just a year younger than her new lover.
Mary was arrested but only after becoming pregnant with Vili's child. She pled guilty to second degree rape of a child and was put behind bars. After serving several months a judge released her on probation with strict orders to stay away from her former student.
MARY KAY LETOURNEAU: I give you my word that it will not happen again.
KING: Soon after, Mary and Vili were found in a car together with baby clothes, her passport and a large amount of cash. The same judge sent her back to prison to serve her full seven and a half year sentence.
Mary was pregnant again and delivered their second child while in prison. When she was released in 2004, Vili was finally old enough for them to resume their relationship without breaking the law. When I spoke to Mary in October that year she made a dramatic announcement.
KING (on camera): The second ring looks like a wedding ring.
LETOURNEAU: Yes.
KING: Is it?
LETOURNEAU: That is an engagement ring. KING: You're engaged?
LETOURNEAU: Yes.
KING (voice-over): Now, less than two years after that interview the couple just celebrated their first wedding anniversary. They live together in a home that overlooks the Peugeot Sound in Seattle and await the day this summer when their two daughters join them permanently. Who would have guessed this outcome ten years ago?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: It's a great pleasure to welcome them to LARRY KING LIVE. Would you have guessed ten years ago that this would all have happened?
LETOURNEAU: Not like this.
FUALAAU: No.
KING: What about it has surprised you the most being married, having children?
FUALAAU: The thing that surprised me the most is that she made it through seven years and same with me that we both made it this far.
KING: You mean through prison?
LETOURNEAU: Yes.
FUALAAU: Through prison, yes.
KING: And you waiting?
FUALAAU: Yes.
KING: Want another baby?
FUALAAU: Yes.
KING: I mean you do agree that people look at this in a bizarre fashion. Just to most people it's strange. How do you look at it yourself, Mary?
LETOURNEAU: Oh, myself?
KING: Yes, I mean how do you -- when you look at yourself, you're a woman. You've had four children. You left a husband. You married a man much younger. When he was young he was like a baby in school. How do you feel yourself?
LETOURNEAU: Well I feel the tragedy that our families went through. I couldn't be more, I don't know if the word is pleased or just I feel really blessed that our families have come together and I mean everyone, the extended families and the...
KING: His family, your family?
LETOURNEAU: Yes, even the ex in-law side that we've all come together and really for the kids. There are a lot of kids involved and we've just all pulled together and it's, oh, I just feel -- I just feel really blessed. I think it's amazing and...
KING: Strange for you Vili?
FUALAAU: Me, no.
KING: I mean look at it. You're smart enough. Look at how the public looks at it.
FUALAAU: Well I've done that for years like I would put myself out of my shoes and in the public's shoes and just, you know, I would think, you know, that those people are in love and I think, you know, I think their story wasn't really looked into that well, you know. I think they could have looked into it a lot more but it was...
KING: It's hard to understand wouldn't you think? Let's take you back. Would you have had a hard time understanding it if it weren't you?
FUALAAU: If it wasn't me and it happened to a friend of mine I'd probably think, you know, and he was telling me that he was love with her and all of that, you know, I'd probably believe him but everybody falls in love, so sometimes I think really critical and sometimes I think, you know, really, you know, like really understanding about a lot of situations.
KING: When did you know it was love Mary?
LETOURNEAU: Hum, well I definitely knew it was when we first came together. We wouldn't have come together if it wasn't.
KING: So up to that point it was strong attraction right? I don't want to put words in your mouth.
LETOURNEAU: No, the attraction was the love so.
KING: You loved him before you made love with him?
LETOURNEAU: Oh, I believed that he -- I believed him when he said that he loved me and was in love with me.
KING: Did you press it?
FUALAAU: What do you mean by pressing?
KING: Come on Billy you know what I mean. Mary, please, Mary I love -- Mary I like you. Mary I'd like to -- let's have dinner. Mary...
LETOURNEAU: It was...
FUALAAU: It wasn't so forward like that. It was more... LETOURNEAU: Yes, it was. He came up and he said "I'm in love with someone" and I was like "Oh, please don't be talking about me."
FUALAAU: Well that's not forward though. It's more like...
KING: You said to her "I'm in love with someone"?
FUALAAU: It's more like...
LETOURNEAU: And I said "Does she know"? And you said "I think so."
FUALAAU: I was giving you clues. That's what I was doing.
LETOURNEAU: Yes.
KING: I'll get back to that in a minute. How are you getting along with the children from the first marriage?
LETOURNEAU: I'm very close with them. I'm their mother. It's...
KING: Do they all -- I mean you see each other.
LETOURNEAU: My son lives with us here. My daughter lives 20 minutes in her college dorms and really we think -- we believe and she believes she lives here but we do take her back to the dorm and she's in her first year of college.
KING: What about the other two?
LETOURNEAU: And then my other two they are with their father but they're here every month and now summers here so they'll be here much longer.
KING: How do they treat you?
FUALAAU: Like family.
KING: That had to be difficult at first.
FUALAAU: At first, yes it was really difficult. I mean I think it was really hard to break the ice between her, me and her oldest, her oldest son. It was an awkward feeling. I mean I didn't know what he was thinking. I didn't know.
KING: Because you told People magazine that you thought they -- you felt some hatred from him.
LETOURNEAU: You thought they probably would.
FUALAAU: It was just -- it was a thought that, you know, like I haven't seen these kids for a long time and the stories I've heard about, you know, how close he was to his mother and how deep of a depression he fell into when his mother wasn't around and not being able to see his mother, talk to his mother, and just thinking about, you know, what other people are saying to him, what his uncles are saying, what his aunties are saying, what people in school are saying, counselors, I mean anyone that recognized him as, you know, Mary's oldest child.
I mean all those thoughts, you know, I was thinking does he hate me for that? Does he, you know, before I came into the picture, you know, I mean to a child that I don't know that. I just think that, you know, what if he never really looked into his mother and his father's relationship if it was really good, if they were really deeply in love that everything would probably just be normal in his eyes you know (INAUDIBLE).
KING: Because he's only a year younger than you right?
FUALAAU: Right and, you know, I step in the picture for a few months and his mother's arrested and taken away from him, so I was thinking, you know, maybe he has -- he holds a grudge against me.
KING: Understandable.
FUALAAU: Yes but now that, you know, he's out, you know, we've had a couple family meetings and talks. He holds no grudge and he's just pretty much really happy that we're together.
KING: How about your ex-husband?
LETOURNEAU: He's all right.
KING: Doesn't hold a grudge?
LETOURNEAU: He's moved on and we're really -- we're working really well with our -- for our kids and we both have...
KING: Is he married? Did he remarry?
LETOURNEAU: He remarried and then he's out of that relationship and he's in a very happy relationship right now.
KING: Still lives in Alaska?
LETOURNEAU: Yes.
KING: We'll be right back. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING (voice-over): Coming up, Vili recently got into trouble and could face jail time of his own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back in Seattle with Vili Fualaau and Mary Kay Letourneau. Fualaau is Samoan right?
FUALAAU: Yes.
KING: Samoan name. Do you use that name now?
LETOURNEAU: I was just going to correct you. It's Mary Fualaau.
KING: But everybody knows you as Letourneau.
LETOURNEAU: All right.
KING: So we'll use Letourneau. We understand that you have taken that name right?
LETOURNEAU: Yes.
KING: All right. Vili you're facing some sentencing for a DUI charge. It's been reported you could get jail time. Are you worried?
FUALAAU: I'm really worried.
KING: What happened?
FUALAAU: Before my trial or?
KING: I mean did you drink and drive?
FUALAAU: No, I wasn't drinking and driving. I was taking my brother home or to my grandmother's house and it was late. We had some drinks before, you know, and...
LETOURNEAU: That would be drinking and driving.
FUALAAU: Well, no. I wasn't impaired. I mean I was sitting there in the courtroom listening to what would be illegal to drive, you know, the legal limit to drive and, you know, I don't know how to explain it.
KING: Well anyway.
FUALAAU: What would be OK to drive.
KING: You were stopped and charged though?
FUALAAU: Yes.
KING: And convicted.
FUALAAU: Yes. I think if I was supposed to be guilty of anything I think speeding would be the only thing I'd be guilty of.
KING: Was this here in Seattle?
FUALAAU: Yes.
KING: How did you react to that?
LETOURNEAU: Well, I didn't like getting the phone call. I just thought, wow, and I did pick him up. He was fine. I thought well at least he's not drunk, you know.
KING: Did you attend the trial?
LETOURNEAU: Oh, no. I wanted to make sure that there wasn't a focus on us.
KING: Too much publicity.
LETOURNEAU: Yes, I just thought he had a really good attorney and I thought that it just needs to be handled as low key as possible so that he can have the most fair trial.
KING: Right, is this your first offense?
FUALAAU: Yes.
KING: When is sentencing?
FUALAAU: Sentencing is on the 16th.
KING: Of June?
FUALAAU: Yes.
KING: Right around the corner.
FUALAAU: Yes right before Father's Day isn't it?
KING: Yes.
LETOURNEAU: Yes.
KING: That's the Friday before Father's Day. What restrictions are you under? You're on parole right?
LETOURNEAU: Well, they call it community supervision.
KING: For how long?
LETOURNEAU: That everybody has when they get out and I am just about finished. I have about six weeks.
KING: After that time you then can -- you can't leave Washington now but you can after that right?
LETOURNEAU: Correct. I can leave for very legitimate reasons. I can request a trip permit, so I went just recently to my daughter's dance recital in Alaska. So when there are -- family situations are considered to be legitimate.
KING: How do your daughters -- your daughters are how old?
FUALAAU: Nine and seven.
KING: Right, so do they both know this whole story?
FUALAAU: They know that mommy is older than daddy but, you know.
KING: I mean do they know that daddy was a student in the same school that mommy taught that daddy was 13 and mommy was 33 when they met?
FUALAAU: I believe my oldest daughter has a more clear picture of us than my youngest, our youngest.
LETOURNEAU: Yes, but I feel they have a really healthy understanding both of them. They know that daddy was too young and we couldn't get married and there was a rule that was broken and mommy went for a time out, a long time out, and that, you know, we've had a situation with we have a young -- we have one older daughter and one younger daughter and I have higher expectations for my oldest daughter and sometimes she says that's not fair.
And I've used our situation to explain. I said "You know you're older and there are different expectations when you're a little bit older" and I said "remember, you know, mommy was older and mommy had to do a time out for" -- you know so I've used that. She really, she understands when I say that.
KING: Will someday you tell them that I am listed as a registered sex offender?
LETOURNEAU: I think they might figure that out or they might hear something but they really...
KING: Like from schoolmates they're going to hear things at school aren't they?
LETOURNEAU: Maybe when they...
KING: (INAUDIBLE).
LETOURNEAU: ...maybe when they get older they might hear something but they know the situation. They know their mother and father and they know that I went away and did a time out, broke the rule. I think they're -- they're very bright girls and they know us and I don't think that, you know, when that time comes up when they are approached with things like that we'll deal with it at, you know, the right developmental level so right now...
KING: You like being a father?
FUALAAU: I do.
KING: Are you a good father?
FUALAAU: Very good father.
LETOURNEAU: He's a great father.
KING: We'll be right back with more from Seattle. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING (voice-over): When we come back what sparked the sexual relationship between student and teacher?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETOURNEAU: My one true love, the father of my children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're back with Mary and Vili at their home in Seattle. You rent this right?
LETOURNEAU: Yes. We have a year lease and we extended it.
KING: And we're right on the water.
FUALAAU: Yes.
LETOURNEAU: Right on it.
KING: High tide we're dead here right?
LETOURNEAU: You're like you're in a boat when it's high tide yes.
KING: We discussed a little bit earlier in the first segment the starting of love did you -- all right, he's after you and he's obviously enamored with you and he's telling you this. How do you feel? Do you say to yourself "I'm a married woman, I got four kids, this is a kid?" Do you say that yourself? Do you question feelings?
LETOURNEAU: We had a very close relationship that, you know, wasn't romantic, so I knew him and I knew he wasn't such a kid and he comes from a little bit of a different culture. And I didn't want to believe him but he kept -- there was one time where I thought, you know what, he is really serious and maybe I need to take him seriously.
And he said "How old are you going to be when you die? How old do you think you're going to be when you die?" And I was like, "Oh, my gosh, I'm going to tell him about my grandmother. She's 100 years old" and so I said, "Well my grandmother is 100 years old and everybody says I'm a lot like my grandmother."
And I thought I was going to be able to share my love for my grandmother. And he cut me off and he said, "Well, if you're 100 when you die, then I guess I'm going to be 80 because I'm not living another moment without you in this world." And I thought, wow. I mean he seemed to understand age difference.
KING: But did you love him? LETOURNEAU: I loved him.
KING: Other than saying wow. You know a lot of people hear that and go wow.
LETOURNEAU: No, I loved him but I didn't want to -- it was hard for me to believe that he was really serious that this was it for him.
KING: Rather than just some kid with a fling?
LETOURNEAU: Right.
KING: How did you tell your husband?
LETOURNEAU: I was already separated from my husband.
KING: Still had to tell him though, children.
LETOURNEAU: Well, after I think it was about eight months that we were together and he had another relationship at the time and we were separated.
KING: Did he handle it well then?
LETOURNEAU: He didn't handle it very well, no, but even though we were separated he still -- he didn't like the idea that I was going to have someone else's child and it didn't matter if we were separated or not. He thought "You're not having someone else's child." And he didn't even care so much that it was Vili. It was just that I'm having someone else's child.
KING: Vili, did you honestly think "I'm in love but I'm doing something wrong"?
FUALAAU: The wrong thing I thought about was she was my teacher. She was, you know, a lot older than I was. She had four kids. She was married. But a lot of the times when we were alone, I mean all of that stuff would disappear.
KING: So you never said to yourself this is illegal?
FUALAAU: No, never once.
KING: Did you think that Mary?
LETOURNEAU: I didn't think it was...
KING: A crime.
LETOURNEAU: I knew it was against -- I knew if there was a relationship while I was his teacher that it was really against, I don't know, kind of a code of ethics and I thought, you know, this really -- this can't happen. So, I was really careful about that but I really didn't -- there wasn't anything in my mind that thought this is a felony and you're risking your children. There wasn't anything.
KING: Had you had any prior sexual relationship?
FUALAAU: While she was away?
KING: Before you started?
FUALAAU: Oh, before her?
KING: Yes.
LETOURNEAU: Well he told me he did.
FUALAAU: A little something but nothing.
KING: You can't be halfway with this.
We'll be right back. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING (voice-over): Coming up, Mary spent seven and a half years in prison. What happened to her those years and what was Vili doing during that time?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Less than three months ago you were given the opportunity, Ms. Letourneau, for treatment. Within weeks of your release from jail you purposely violated the conditions of your sentence. These violations are extraordinarily egregious. The suspended sentence is hereby revoked and the original sentence that I imposed not long ago of 89 months is imposed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: We're in Seattle with Vili Fualaau and his wife Mary Kay Fualaau. They're not everybody terms. And we're discussing their extraordinary -- now, OK, Mary's in jail. These are your teenage years. You've got two children. You're living with your mother. Do you think you lost your youth?
FUALAAU: I think at the time it was kind of -- it's really complex to explain. I mean I was ready to be a father at that time, you know, with the support of my family but at the time honestly I was more kind of -- my mom was kind of more like -- I feel like she was more pushing me to the side and kind of taking over, and I was kind of there like to do all the dirty work.
KING: She was raising them?
FUALAAU: She would take them places, you know, without telling me. I felt like it was really hard for me. My mother got really attached to my daughters right away. And I wanted to, you know, be there as a father to them while they were that young, show them things from me. During those times, they got to get more closer to my mother than they ever got to be with me.
KING: So it was awkward, difficult?
FUALAAU: Very, very difficult.
KING: Are they still close to her?
FUALAAU: They are.
KING: Are you happy about that now?
FUALAAU: I'm happy about it. It's kind of weighing out, like they're getting more close to me starting to get to know who I am as a person. You know, just-
KING: She has a strong effect on their lives?
FUALAAU: She does.
KING: You're in prison while this was going on, right? What was that like?
LETOURNEAU: Prison is really prison. They can say that -- I've heard people kind of fluff it up, like prison isn't like it used to be, but it really is. There might not be bars like 100 years ago, but there are really heavy doors and very small rooms with cement cots with very minimal dressings on the bed.
KING: You got out for a while, though, right?
LETOURNEAU: I was in jail and I was given a suspended sentence. I was sentenced to the full seven years.
KING: I got you. That's when you slept with him and broke the agreement.
LETOURNEAU: It wasn't about sleeping with him, it was about communicating at all with him. I had already made a decision that -- there was a little deceit in my sentence, where they said, OK, we're going to suspend this, you can be in the community and be in this counseling or treatment program and you'll be able to be a mother to your children.
I thought, well, that's -- of course that's the route, of course I'll take that. If that means saying guilty to be with my children and without going through a trial, that's what I'll do. As soon as I was sentenced, this treatment person came in and said, you're not going to see your children at all, not even an I love you communicated through your mother, not a birthday card, not anything, just like the men in my program.
I said, really? How many of the men in your program just delivered a newborn baby? I was just -- just -- I felt so deceived. And I decided that I'm going to go to prison because I'm going to continue a relationship with my children. I thought the whole thing was a farce to the public.
KING: You could see them in prison but couldn't see them when you were out?
LETOURNEAU: Right. There wasn't any reason not to communicate with the father of my newborn baby because I already was taking myself to prison in order to have a relationship with my children.
KING: What's this story about your using breast milk, which you were allowed to put in containers and send messages to Vili?
LETOURNEAU: I did. I deliberately did that on the plastic baggies. We had communication, cryptic language in numbers and words. So where you put the label on the bottom, the date and the name, there's a little space on the bottom of the bag, I always, you know, put a little -- put a little note on the bottom.
KING: Were you ever bothered sexually in prison by women?
LETOURNEAU: It's pretty prevalent there. There was some. I handled it all right. I knew it was there the moment I got there. I had also heard about it.
KING: Did you ever have to succumb?
LETOURNEAU: Oh, no.
KING: Was it difficult not to?
LETOURNEAU: No.
KING: Did you worry about that, Vili?
FUALAAU: No. I didn't really think about it -- I thought about it, never really put too much feelings into it. I never really cared about it. I knew once she was out we were going to be together.
KING: Did she change a lot in seven years?
FUALAAU: When I first met her when she got out she was really skinny. She look really smaller than before, like she shrunk almost. Like her face looked so small to me when I first saw her. And she was this small little thing, when I saw her. It kind of blew my mind. The way she was, was just kind of different. Now, I think it was just because she had just gotten out of seven years.
I had a friend who knew a little bit about prison and the way people are when they're just coming out from that long period of time of prison, that they're going to be kind of different at first, but then they'll slowly come together. And, you know --
KING: Did he change? He got to change when you age from 13 to 20.
LETOURNEAU: Not the person. Well, not the person.
KING: He matured though?
LETOURNEAU: Well, he had -- I don't know.
KING: Didn't change?
LETOURNEAU: He had experiences, even just going out with his friends, out to the clubs and he had those kinds of experiences.
KING: Had romantic experiences, too?
LETOURNEAU: He had --
FUALAAU: The truth is, I never really had anything as deep as I have with Mary. I mean, everything -- every other relationship, I was always, like, thinking about her. Everything that the girl would do, little things would remind me about Mary, the way they would look at me or if they didn't do something a certain way I was used to Mary always doing --
KING: But you were with women?
FUALAAU: Yes, it drove me away if they weren't exactly like Mary.
KING: We'll be right back. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with Mary Kay and Vili. You like Mary, only? You don't like Mary Kay, right?
LETOURNEAU: I just like Mary, yes.
KING: And everything is great with the your children now, the grown -- the other children from your first marriage and you and Vili.
LETOURNEAU: Oh yes, I wanted to -- you had touched on that earlier and Vili was expressing how he felt. And he was so -- Vili was so sensitive in the beginning. He wanted to make sure that, because my children hadn't been with me in so many years, you know, they did visit me and I kept in, you know, complete continual communication with them from where I was.
But when they were with me, he really stayed out of the picture and he really wanted to make sure that they had just mom and didn't see Vili and mom, but just mom. My kids -- I kept reassuring Vili, I said, "My children are so loving. Don't have these negative," and what you said, likely natural thoughts. I said, "But my children are so loving, and my own children extended to me, and to give to Vili, they said, mom, please tell Vili that we love him and that he's family."
KING: Before we talk about the current -- the two children, what do you think of all these stories going on now about teachers and students?
LETOURNEAU: Well, I think it's probably, from what I've been told, that it's been there, it's just magnified right now.
KING: So it's always been there, you think?
LETOURNEAU: Well that's what I've been told. And I -- you know, even definitely before me, it wasn't -- it wasn't something new. You know, I can honestly say that there's not one thought that, you know, this is a felony and I'm going to lose my children or go to prison. And I think about the women in the news right now and I think, after my situation, how can anyone risk knowing? I just think...
KING: ... But the lady in Florida got no time.
LETOURNEAU: Well...
KING: ... Do you feel like there's a double standard?
LETOURNEAU: Well?
KING: She got no time.
LETOURNEAU: This is the United States and every state has their own laws. And this is a different state.
KING: How did you feel first learning you were going to be a father?
FUALAAU: I don't know what that feeling is.
KING: Strange?
FUALAAU: The feeling I had with Mary, that I was going to have a child, you know, was kind of like I imagined us together, when I would imagine us living together, raising a child together. That feeling, I could say was a really good feeling.
Reality was that I wasn't able -- I wasn't going to be able to raise my child with her and I was going to have to raise them with my mom, and that wasn't really what I wanted. If anything, I wished I would have had a lot more support back then. It felt like my mouth was restrained from speaking and everyone else was speaking for me, making choices for me after me and Mary were -- you know.
KING: How do you get along, each of you, with your mother-in- law?
LETOURNEAU: We're all working for our -- you know, for our children right now.
KING: Do you get along well with her?
LETOURNEAU: I get along well -- I get along well with her. It hasn't been easy.
KING: How do you get along with Mary's mother?
FUALAAU: Mary's mother? I've only talked to her -- I've talked to her a few times, but never really had a real conversation to her.
KING: Does she pay attention to your children, your mother?
LETOURNEAU: Absolutely, yes. She just lives far away.
KING: Where does she live?
LETOURNEAU: Washington D.C.
KING: The other Washington. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING (voice-over): When we come back, what do Mary's first children think of her new family that could be growing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with Mary and Vili. Do you get psychotherapy? Is that required?
LETOURNEAU: I have counseling.
KING: You do? Does it help?
LETOURNEAU: I really like -- there's a team. There's two. And I feel they're great support for me. Considering I'm still on the community supervision, and they really help -- they're really helping to get me through that.
KING: Do you think anything's wrong with you?
LETOURNEAU: Wrong with me?
KING: Do you think you need -- in other words, are you doing this because the court said you have to do it or the prison said -- or do you think I need?
LETOURNEAU: I think anyone going through prison and getting out and still being under some rules from the state, I'm very appreciative to have their support, the counseling support.
KING: Do you need any support, Vili?
FUALAAU: I needed support back then, yes, but I got the wrong support.
KING: Wrong?
FUALAAU: The wrong support. I mean, it was just so bad for me. There's people telling me, you know, I would tell them like the truth, what I was feeling and, you know, it was so hard to explain in my relationship with Mary, because that's not what they wanted to hear. They only wanted to hear what they wanted to hear. To me, I felt back then, it didn't matter what I said, it felt like no matter -- all the truth that I had to say back then, I started to feel like it would just making her life more miserable in prison.
KING: What do you do for a living?
FUALAAU: What do I do for a living? I do a lot.
KING: You want to be a tattoo artist, right?
FUALAAU: Yes. I opened up -- I bought my tattoo starter kit and I'm opening -- looking into that, practicing.
KING: You have a tattoo, right?
FUALAAU: Yes.
KING: What does your tattoo say?
FUALAAU: It's a travel tattoo. It's a sworn fisherman tattoo.
KING: Beautiful.
FUALAUU: In the olden days, the chiefs were only allowed to have them. And now everyday -- I mean, a lot of people are getting them every day.
KING: Is this what you want to do though, you want to be a tattoo artist?
FUALAAU: Well, there's a lot of things I found out, you know, lately, and that sounds really interesting to me that I feel like I could just have a blast doing it. I'm really picky about what I want to do.
KING: Are you doing anything now?
FUALAAU: Now, tattooing.
LETOURNEAU: He's also a student.
FUALAAU: Oh yes, I'm also a student at the Academy of Fine Arts.
KING: You paint?
FUALAAU: I do it all, like, I do painting, sculpting, a little sketching?
KING: You going to teach? Can you teach?
LETOURNEAU: I can teach. And I may go back and teach at the community college level. But right now, I'm -- well, and I always have been a mother and now I'm a mother of six. So the idea of going outside of the house, it's not in the picture in the near future.
KING: How do your two children get along with your others?
LETOURNEAU: Oh, my gosh. They're -- they are so happy -- happy to see each other, happy to share a room. You know, the birthday parties, it's just -- I just -- that's what I said, I feel so blessed, just the way every -- especially the way the children have come together.
KING: How do they treat you, her children from her other marriage?
FUALAAU: All four?
KING: We discussed the boy. How are the others?
FUALAAU: I love all of them. I love them the same way they love me.
KING: Nice.
FUALAAU: It's been a natural connection.
LETOURNEAU: He's great with them.
KING: Does your relationship stay as strong? Like for example, are you still as strongly physically attracted to each other, as it was when it was forbidden?
LETOURNEAU: Definitely.
KING: It is? There's not the case when you just leave the house and run out into a car?
LETOURNEAU: I don't know. You know, I'm -- no, but I can -- sometimes I can be like, outside the house, just coming home and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I can't wait to see him. Just, yes, I've just got -- still have that -- just want to hold him, yes.
KING: Grab him. I get it. We'll be back with our remaining moments right after this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING (voice-over): Coming up, Mary reveals her biggest regret.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We're back with our remaining moments. You have custody of your children now?
LETOURNEAU: We were awarded custody, yes. We're in a transition right now, so we're awaiting the end of the school year, which is a couple weeks.
KING: Who had custody before, your mother? LETOURNEAU: Uh-huh.
KING: So this is official, although they're with you, right?
LETOURNEAU: They're with us most of the week, Monday through Thursday and every other weekend. It's a nice transition right now.
KING: Is your mother upset at this?
LETOURNEAU: She's the one that wrote up the order.
FUALAAU: What, the...
LETOURNEAU: ... The transition.
FUALAAU: Yes, he asked about the transition.
KING: You attend your daughter's ballet performances, right? They both do ballet?
LETOURNEAU: Oh, yes. My daughter in Alaska, all of the girls are very active dancers.
KING: You miss so much, seven and a half years in prison, right, things that mothers and father go to.
LETOURNEAU: Uh-huh.
KING: Ball games, ballet. Was it hard for you? You regret that?
LETOURNEAU: That was very hard, of course because I had never missed even a breath of my children. So being separated, it was very hard. And all the activities, and like I said, just recently, I went to Alaska for my second oldest daughter's dance recital and also my son's championship track meet. And I was on a standby ticket and just the thought of not making it to my son's track meet was -- it was very -- I thought, I can't miss this.
KING: Do you regret anything?
LETOURNEAU: I regret not having -- I regret not knowing more about the criminal justice system. I regret not getting the -- well, I know that I did everything that I could have done once things laid themselves out. And that's how I went to sleep every night because every day I made sure I did everything either to help my children or to educate myself and...
KING: No regret over anything concerning Vili?
LETOURNEAU: My gosh, no, we're so happy to be together.
KING: You have any regrets?
FUALAAU: No.
KING: None?
FUALAAU: None.
KING: Do it again?
FUALAAU: I'd do it again, probably just next time if I did, I wouldn't get caught.
KING: Do you two think -- this is a cliche, that you are soul mates?
LETOURNEAU: There are so many terms like that, soul mates is kind of overused. I just a hear a lot of people saying this is my soul mate, this is my soul mate. This is really -- I would have to say that this is...
FUALAAU: Tell him about that thing you read in a book, it was about soul mates and twin flames.
LETOURNEAU: Oh, it kind of explained the difference between soul mates and twin flames. But I really wouldn't put a label on it at all. It's -- I don't know -- we just...
KING: ... Twin planes?
LETOURNEAU: Twin flames.
KING: What are your goals now? You want more children, you discussed that earlier?
FUALAAU: Boy.
KING: You want a boy. You will stay in Seattle?
LETOURNEAU: We'll stay here because it's very important for us that we stay connected to our family. So for now and probably for quite a while, we'll be here.
KING: As long as you don't get a heart attack climbing the steps.
LETOURNEAU: Right.
KING: There's a thousand steps leading down to this house. Thank you both very much.
LETOURNEAU: Oh, thank you Larry.
KING: Great seeing you again, Mary. You too. We hope you found this hour as fascinating as I did. Mary Kay Letourneau -- Mary Kay Fualaau and Vili Fualaau. I got that right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
