Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau: Teacher convicted of child rape faces online backlash following interview discussing their relationship

Mary Kay Letourneau expressed her desire to become a teacher again in the interview with ABC News

Mary Kay Letourneau and her husband Vili Fualaau on ABC News (ABC News )

A teacher convicted of child rape in 1997 who went on to marry her victim has received an online backlash after the pair gave an interview to openly discuss their relationship for the first time.

Mary Kay Letourneau, now 53, was a 34-year-old teacher in Seattle when she raped Vili Fualaau, who was a 12-year-old student of her's at the time.

The pair married in 2005 and recently gave an interview to ABC News in which Letourneau expressed her desire to become a teacher once again and have her name removed from the sexual offenders register.

During the interview, which was also widely reported by other media organisations, Fualaau, now 31, called his marriage to Letourneau a “huge relief” and spoke of the depression he experienced as a teenager.

Since the interview has aired however, the couple have received something of a mixed reaction online.

While some have expressed shock that they are still together, others have remained unforgiving for her actions.

In 1997, Letourneau was married with four children and pregnant with Fualaau's child when she pleaded guilty to two counts of felony second degree rape. She gave birth to a girl while out on bail the next year.

After violating the terms of her plea agreement which stated she would have no contact with Fualaau, Letourneau was re-sentenced to seven years in prison.

She gave birth to a second girl while in prison after becoming pregnant with Fualaau's second child while on bail.

During the interview with Barbara Walters for ABC News, Letourneau said her relationship with Fualaau once he became an adult was not the same story as reported in the media at the time.

She said: “There is a story of us that has a life of its own, but it's not our story.”