Mary Kay Letourneau, Infamous Middle School Teacher, Has Died at the Age of 58

Mary Kay Letourneau, the controversial middle school teacher, whose affair with a 12-year-old student made global headlines in the '90s has died. She was 58.

Multiple outlets have confirmed the news of Letourneau's death Tuesday evening, with sources telling PEOPLE Magazine that she battled stage 4 cancer for several months. The exact nature of the cancer was not immediately clear.

Letourneau became a household name in 1996 when she was working as a sixth-grade teacher at a middle school in Washington State. Letourneau, who was 34 years old at the time, was caught having sexual relations with her 12-year-old student, Vili Fualaau.

She was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for child rape. Before Fualaau turned 15 years old, the couple had two daughters together (Georgia and Audrey), despite court orders keeping them apart.

Following Letourneau's release from prison, Fulaau petitioned the court to have the restraining order against his former teacher dropped. The pair married in 2005.

The couple filed for a legal separation in 2017, but PEOPLE reports that the couple lived together in the Seattle area until 2019 when their legal separation became official.

Fualaau has not commented on the news.