Mary Kay Letourneau, 55, and her former student-turned-husband, Vili Fualaau, 33, are separating after 12 years of marriage.
Vili confirmed the news to Radar Online, with Washington State court records stating he filed on May 9.
The father-of-two did admit the marriage might not be completely over.
Forbidden love: Mary, a married mother-of-four, fell for her 12-year-old student.
The couple overcame the backlash to fight for their relationship.
“It’s not necessarily what you think,” he claimed to Radar Online.
“Everything is fine between us. All the rumors that you hear between us. It’s fine,” he said.
“Of course [we are still in love]. A piece of paper doesn’t break someone’s feelings!”
Sources close to the couple had told People, “They’ve been having issues for a while now.”
“They tried to work through them, but it didn’t work. They’re still committed to being good parents to their children.”
While Mary’s attorney told the publication, “She could try to contest it, but that’s legally tough to do.”
“When one person is unhappy in the relationship, the other person can’t be happy either,” he added. “And there are two people in this relationship.”
Vili has since explained he filed for legal separation due to a new business venture. He is looking to get licensed and become a distributor for Cigaweed marijuana cigarettes.
“When you want to get licensend, they do background checks on both parties,” he explained.
“If I decide to be a part of it I have to be licensed and I have to be vetted and so does a spouse. She has a past. She has a history.”
Having served over seven years in prison and still is on the sex offender registry, Mary, now 55, indeed has a past.
The pair are the proud parents to their two daughters, Audrey (far left) and Georgia (far right).
In 1996, the Seattle-based school teacher, who was 34 at the time, began a sexual relationship with her then-sixth-grade student, Vili.
After being caught, she pleaded guilty to two counts of felony second-degree rape of a child in 1997.
At the time Mary was married to her first husband Steve Letourneau and together they had four kids.
Mary’s plea got her a six month sentence, with three months suspended and no contact with Vili for life.
Just one month after her release, Mary was caught with her former student once again, leading to seven year in prison.
The teacher was released in 2004, and the courts revoked the no-contact order.
The family on a holiday back in May 2005, a year after Mary’s prison release.
The couple tied the knot in 2005, in front of family and friends.
The couple married in May 2005, and have two daughters Audrey, who was born while her mum was out on bail in 1997, and Georgia, who was born in 1998 while Mary was in prison.
In 2015, Mary and Vili chatted to Barbara Walters about their controversial relationship, admitting it had been marred by all the media attention.
“I don’t know if enough time will ever pass where it will take away what the media did to our story,” she mused.
“Because it was so big, and they ran with it so fast. There’s a story of us that has a life of its own, but it’s not our story.”
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