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Vili Fualaau recounts final moments with Mary Kay Letourneau before her death

Letourneau was convicted of raping Fualaau when he was 12 and she was his sixth grade teacher. After she was released from prison, they married in 2005.
Image: ABC News & Barbara Walters 20/20 Exclusive: Mark Kay Letourneau Fualaau and Vili Fualaau on Their 10th Anniversary
Mary Kay Letourneau Fualaau and Vili Fualaau on the eve of their 10th anniversary.ABC via Getty Images
/ Source: TODAY

Vili Fualaau is opening up about his last moments with Mary Kay Letourneau, who died of cancer in July at age 58. The couple married in 2005 — eight years after Letourneau, a former teacher, was convicted of raping Fualaau when he was 12 years old and her student.

"I didn't see her chest moving, and I thought it, maybe, it was like one of those pauses she has and then she'll come back. She'll take a deep breath, and she's gonna come back," Fualaau, now 37, recalled in an episode of "The Dr. Oz Show," which will air Wednesday. "I would count in between those pauses, and it was just the longest count that I had."

"And I turned off her breathing machine just to hear if she was breathing just really soft, and at that moment, I had to, you know, tell the kids that they need to call the rest of the siblings to come and say their goodbyes. This is it," Fualaau said.

Letourneau and Fualaau had two daughters together, Audrey, 23, and Georgia, 21. Letourneau also had four children from a previous marriage. At the time that she was convicted of second-degree child rape, she was pregnant with Audrey. Both of her daughters with Fualaau were born while she was incarcerated.

In 2018, Audrey and Georgia Fualaau spoke with Australian TV show "Sunday Night" about their parents' controversial relationship.

"I think I understand about it, just like how it was surprising to people,'' Audrey said. "It's been feeling different because it's not really been brought to our attention, just because we grew up with it, so we're adapted to it."

Letourneau was paroled in 1998 and barred from contacting Fualaau. But they were found together shortly after her release, and she returned to prison to serve the remainder of a seven-year sentence.

In 2017, Fualaau filed a petition for legal separation. Letourneau filed to have the petition dismissed, and People magazine reported in 2018 that they reconciled after splitting up. In 2019, their separation was finalized, according to People.