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Mary Kay Letourneau, Vili Fualaau Reflect on Their Controversial Marriage: “You Have Your Ups and Downs”

Barbara Walters interviews Mary Kay Letourneau & Vili Fualaau
Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau opened up to Barbara Walters about the "ups and downs" in their marriage; "I don't feel like I had the right support or the right help behind me," Fualaau said

Even the most drama-free relationships take work — and Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau's marriage is anything but drama-free. Having started their illicit affair when Fualaau was just 13 and Letourneau was 34, the spouses of 10 years have had to overcome almost impossible odds to be together. And while they're still happily wed with two kids, they've had more than their share of highs and lows.

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"I don't think there's ever a full 10 good years of marriage. You have your ups and downs in marriage," Fualaau, now 31, told Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview set to air Friday, April 10, in honor of the couple's upcoming 10th wedding anniversary. "But, you know, what matters is how you pull through all the bad times."

Those bad times include a seven-year prison sentence for Letourneau, now 53, who was a married mother of four when she and Fualaau — then a student in her sixth-grade class — began their sexual relationship. By the time he was 15, they had two kids together, Audrey and Georgia.

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"It was a huge change in my life, for sure," Fualaau told Walters. "I don't feel like I had the right support or the right help behind me…From my family — from anyone in general. I mean, my friends couldn't help me because they had no idea what, what it was like to be a parent, I mean, because we were all 14, 15."

As was well-documented at the time, Letourneau and her student-turned-lover wed in 2005, a year after she was released from prison. In the time since, they've kept a relatively low profile — but that's about to change.

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"It is our 10-year anniversary, and we already know that no matter how protective we are, that there's going to be a wave of intrusion in our life right now that we can't stop," Letourneau explained to Walters. "So it's about doing the most responsible thing to protect our girls for the inevitable."

Barbara Walters' interview with Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau airs Friday, April 10, on ABC's 20/20.

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