Vili Fualaau and Mary Kay Letourneau.Photo:7NEWSSpotlight/YouTube

Awkward TV Interview That Inspired Harrowing Scene In Netflix’s May December Resurfaces Online: ‘This Is Getting Weird’

7NEWSSpotlight/YouTube

Netflix’s new dramaMay December— loosely based on the 1990s sexual assault case surrounding grade school teacher Mary Kay Letourneau’s abuse of her then-12-year-old student Vili Fualaau — has left viewers conflicted since its release earlier this month.

Letourneau was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for child rape in 1997 after repeatedly abusing Fualaau, one of her sixth grade students. She twice became pregnant with Fualaau’s children before he was 15, despite court orders to keep them apart.

The couple married in 2005 despite the criminal history and public controversy surrounding their relationship. They split in 2017 after Fualaaufiled for legal separation, butstill lived togetherand wereoccasionally spotted outin the Seattle area.

They also both remained active in the lives of their two daughters, and Fualaau was at Letourneau’s side when she died of stage 4 cancer in 2020.

“I’m convinced they were totally in love,” Letourneau’s friend and former attorney David Gehrke told PEOPLE in 2017 after the couple filed for separation.

Mary Kay Letourneau.Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP

n this Feb. 6, 1998, file photo, Mary Kay Letourneau listens to testimony during a court hearing in Seattle Letourneau, who married her former sixth-grade student after she was convicted for raping him, has died. She was 58. Her lawyer David Gehrke told news outlets Letourneau died Tuesday, July 7, 2020, of cancer. The former suburban Seattle teacher was arrested in 1997 after she became pregnant with Vili Fualaau’s child. She later pleaded guilty to second-degree child rape

Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP

The couple’s interview with Doran appears to break down when the host begins to press Letourneau on why she still believed her relationship with Fualaau was appropriate despite him being 12 years old at the time it started.

Vili Fualaau.AP Photo/Matt Brashears

Vili Fualaau testify Wednesday, April 3, 2002, in his and his mother’s civil lawsuit against the City of Des Moines and the Highline School District at the Regional Justice Center in Kent, Wash. Fualaau, 18, and his mother, Soona Vili, are seeking $1 million from the city claiming police and school officials should have kept Fualaau from having sex with his teacher Mary Kay Letourneau.

AP Photo/Matt Brashears

Letourneau turns to Fualaau and instead questions him repeatedly.

“Who was the boss? Who was the boss? Who was the boss back then? Who was the boss back then?” she asks her husband, who begins uncomfortably looking back-and-forth between Letourneau and Doran without answering.“Who was? Just say,” Letourneau instructs Fualaau again.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.“This is ridiculous,” Fualaau finally says after another awkward exchange. “This is getting weird.”Eventually, Fualaau tells Doran “I was the pursuer,” after sharing another glance at Letourneau.

Despite living together after their initial separation filing in 2017, Fualaau and Letourneau officially divorced in 2019.

Since then, Fualaau has largely remained out of the public eye. He welcomed a third child in 2022 and earlier this year, his family revealed that Fualaau would become a grandfather after daughter Georgiaannouncedher pregnancy.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

source: people.com