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'ET' Ponies Up for Letourneau Wedding

Thursday, April 28, 2005

09:54 AM PT

"Entertainment Tonight" has won the rights to televise the wedding of former schoolteacher Mary Kay Letourneau and her student-turned-fiance, Vili Fualaau.

The nuptials are likely to take place next month, although a date and location haven't been disclosed. As part of the deal with the couple, "ET" will broadcast the first in a series of interviews conducted by correspondent Jann Carl on Thursday (April 28).

Letourneau, you'll recall, was a 34-year-old teacher and mother of four when she began having an affair with the then 12-year-old Fualaau, one of her sixth-grade students, about a decade ago. She was convicted of raping the boy and served a 7 1/2-year prison sentence that ended last August.

Fualaau, now 22, and Letourneau, 43, have two daughters together, ages 7 and 6. Letourneau was pregnant with the older daughter when she was arrested in 1997 gave birth to the younger child while serving her sentence.

In the Thursday "ET" interview, Letourneau says she wants to tell her story because "it's really important to me that people are able to make judgments and form an opinion on things that are real. I feel like I'm happy for the public that they get to see us finally and that they aren't given misinformation or someone's opinion as information."

Some published reports claim that "ET" paid up to $500,000 for the rights to the wedding, but a spokesperson for the show tells the AP that figure is "ridiculous."