Mary Katherine Schmitz was born in 1962 in Tustin, California, the daughter of Mary E. (née Suehr), a Chemist, and John G. Schmitz (1930–2001), a university professor. She was known as Mary Kay to her family and called "Cake" by her father. She was the fourth of seven children, raised in a "strict Catholic household." When she was two years old, her father began his political career and successfully ran as a Republican for a seat in the state legislature. He held positions as a California state senator and U.S. Congressman, winning a special election for an unexpired term in 1970 and the general election later that year. After a primary defeat in 1972, he changed parties and ran for President as an ultra-conservative American Independent Party candidate in the 1972 U.S. presidential election.
In 1973, her three-year-old brother drowned in the family pool at their home in the Spyglass Hill section of Corona del Mar, California. Although the death was ruled accidental and no one held responsible, Mary Kay often blamed herself as she promised to look after her brother, and was the first to report to her parents the boy was not breathing.
In 1978, her father was elected once again as a Republican to the California State Senate. He intended to run for the U.S. Senate in 1982, but his political career was permanently damaged that year when it was revealed that he had fathered two children out of wedlock during an affair with a former student at Santa Ana College, where he had taught political science. Her father's affair caused her parents to separate, but they later reconciled. According to friends, Mary Kay felt betrayed and thought her mother was a cold person who "drove him to it" by denying her father affection.
Vili Fualaau was one of the students in Letourneau's second-grade class at Shorewood Elementary School in Burien, Washington. Fualaau was born in 1983 and is Samoan-American. Letourneau later taught a sixth-grade class in which Fualaau was also a student. When she was 34 in 1996, her relationship with the 12-year-old Fualaau turned from friendship to flirtation. In the summer of that year, Letourneau had sex with Fualaau. Letourneau was arrested in March 1997 after a relative of her husband Steve contacted the police. Her first child with Fualaau, a daughter, was born in May 1997 while Letourneau awaited the conclusion of her trial.
While attending Arizona State University, Mary Kay Schmitz met and married fellow student Steve Letourneau. They had four children. Their first child was conceived while she was a student at Arizona State. She said that she was not in love with Steve and married him after being urged to by her parents. The couple left the university and moved to Anchorage, Alaska, where Steve found work as a baggage handler for Alaska Airlines. After a year in Alaska, her husband was transferred to Seattle, Washington, and she gave birth to their second child. Her husband attended night classes at Seattle University and graduated in 1989. Later, Mary Kay began teaching second grade at Shorewood Elementary School in the Seattle suburb of Burien.
In October 1998, while serving her sentence, Letourneau gave birth to her second daughter by Fualaau. That year, Letourneau and Fualaau co-authored a book, which was published in France, called Only One Crime, Love (French: Un seul crime, l'amour). In 1999 a second book appeared, this one published in the United States, but written with only minimal cooperation from her (and none from Fualaau): If Loving You Is Wrong. During her imprisonment, Letourneau was allowed visits from her children but was denied permission to attend her father's funeral. While in prison Letourneau tutored fellow inmates, created audio books for blind readers, participated in the prison choir and "rarely missed Mass." Because of her notoriety, Letourneau was unpopular with other inmates, "sassed guards and balked at work" and, reportedly as punishment for this, spent "18 of her first 24 months" in solitary confinement.
The Letourneaus' marriage reportedly suffered from financial problems and extramarital affairs by both husband and wife. Her attorney, former neighbor, and friend David Gehrke, said that she was "emotionally and physically abused by her husband" during the marriage, and twice "went to the hospital for treatment, and police were called," although no charges were ever filed. She gave birth to two more children. While incarcerated for child rape in May 1999, she divorced her husband, and he gained custody of their four children.
Letourneau and her husband were the DJ and hosts for three "Hot for Teacher Night" promotions at a Seattle night club. During an Inside Edition interview, Fualaau said, "I'm not a victim. I'm not ashamed of being a father. I'm not ashamed of being in love with Mary Kay." Attorney Anne Bremner, who met Letourneau in 2002 during Fualaau's civil suit, said that Letourneau considered her affair with Fualaau to be "eternal and endless". According to Bremner, "Nothing could have kept the two of them apart."
Letourneau was released to a community placement program on August 4, 2004, and the following day she registered with the King County Sheriff's Office as a Level 2 sex offender.
After Letourneau's release from prison in 2004, Fualaau, then age 21, filed a motion in court, requesting a Reversal of the no-contact order against Letourneau. A few days later the request was granted. Letourneau and Fualaau were married on May 20, 2005, in the city of Woodinville, Washington, in a ceremony at the Columbia Winery. Exclusive access to the wedding was given to the television show Entertainment Tonight, and photographs were released through other media outlets. Letourneau said she planned to have another child and return to the teaching profession and indicated that by law she was permitted to teach at private schools and community colleges.
On May 9, 2017, after almost 12 years of marriage, Fualaau filed for separation from Letourneau. Fualaau later withdrew the separation filing, and, as of March 2018, the two are still married.
