THAT ISA LOVE LESSON
THEY SAID it wouldn’t last.
Mary Kay Letourneau, the ex-Seattle teacher who bedded, then wed, her former sixth-grade student, toured the Big Apple with her now 31-year-old husband and their two teenaged kids, appearing as a typical American family.
The 53-year-old, who became pregnant with Vili Fualaau’s child when he was just 13, is seen glowing on the streets of Manhattan after surviving a storm of controversy and nearly seven years in prison for child rape.
“They are two people who got together on extraordinary circumstances and have remained together under extraordinary circumstances,” the family’s long-time friend and photographer Mark Greenberg told the Daily News.
“This is lasting love. Their normal is normal,” said Greenberg, who accompanied them on their recent visit and snapped their 2005 wedding.
The teacher-turned paralegal arrived arm-in-arm with her DJ husband and their two daughters — Georgia, 16, and Audrey, 17 — for two action-packed days last week, which included Fualaau spinning at Alphabet City lounge Revision.
They appeared to be like any other family visiting New York — eating pizza and taking endless selfies while exploring such sites as Ellen’s Stardust Diner in Times Square, the Park Plaza Hotel and climbing Central Park’s exposed bedrock.
Though no one appeared to recognize the family — whose story inspired a 2000 docu-drama and was referenced in the 2012 Adam Sandler comedy “That’s My Boy” — things momentarily did get hairy when Letourneau locked eyes with Times Square’s “Naked Cowboy.”
Letourneau, a protective mother of her daughters, had never heard of him and feared he was dangerous, Greenberg said.
The family’s big adventure came ahead of a sitdown interview with Barbara Walters that is set to air Friday on ABC News’ “20/20.” It also came on the eve of the couple’s 10-year wedding anniversary.
“I don’t think there’s ever a full 10 good years of marriage,” Fualaau told Walters in a sneak-peek of their upcoming interview.
“You have your ups and downs in marriages. But, you know, what matters is how you pull through all the bad times.”
Letourneau, who in 2010 became a grandmother from one of her four children from her previous marriage, is hoping to get her name off the registered sex offender list and possibly teach again, Greenberg said.
“Her major next goal, now that 10 years have gone by, she can apply to have that title removed from her name,” he said.