Vili Fualaau is opening up on how he feels about May December, the Netflix drama released in May 2023, and he's confused as to why no one ever contacted him while shooting the movie. The film stars Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry, an actress who's portraying Gracie Yoo (Julianne Moore) in her relationship with her husband Joe Yoo (Charlie Melton), who started seeing each other when Gracie sexually abused 13-year-old Joe while she was in her 30s.
The story plot reflects that of Vili and his late ex-wife, Mary Kay Letourneau.
Vili and Mary's relationship became public headlines in the late 1990s, she, 34 and married with kids at the time, raped the then-12-year-old student. In 1997, she was convicted of child rape and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison.
At the time of her conviction, Mary was pregnant with Vili's child. In 1998, she was granted parole, but not allowed to contact the teen. However, shortly after her release, the two were caught together again. She had to serve the remainder of her term in prison.
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Mary gave birth to their first child while she was in prison. They later welcomed a second child in 1998 while she was still behind bars. Vili was a father of two by the time he was 15.
Vili, who is now 40, wishes that the director of May December, Todd Haynes, would have contacted him in order to get a bigger picture of his story. “I’m still alive and well,” he said. “If they had reached out to me, we could have worked together on a masterpiece. Instead, they chose to do a ripoff of my original story."
“I’m offended by the entire project and the lack of respect given to me — who lived through a real story and is still living it,” he added. Even with the similarities between the story depicted in the film and their real-life story, Vili feels like there were elements missing.
He and Mary got married in 2005. They defended their relationship in many interviews, with Mary even calling him her "one true love."
The pair divorced in 2019. In 2020, she died of stage 4 colon cancer. “Vili moved back from California, gave up his life there, and for the last two months of Mary’s life, he stood by her 24/7 taking care of her,” her attorney, David Gehrke, said. “So yes, they were divorced and they had their spats, but they were always in love with each other.”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Vili spoke more about the film. "I love movies — good movies,” he said. “And I admire ones that capture the essence and complications of real-life events. You know, movies that allow you to see or realize something new every time you watch them. Those kinds of writers and directors — someone who can do that — would be perfect to work with, because my story is not nearly as simple as this movie [portrays]."
