Mary Kay Letourneau's ex-husband says that no one reached out to him about 'May December:' 'I'm offended by the entire project'

• "May December" is a film inspired by the real-life saga of Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau. 
• Fualaau says that no one involved with the production reached out to him. 
• The film's director and writer have said the film isn't an adaptation of Letourneau and Fualaau's story.

Vili Fualaau, Mary Kay Letourneau's ex-husband, says that the filmmakers behind Netflix's Todd Haynes drama "May December" didn't reach out to him — even though the film uses his own story as a jumping-off point.

"May December" stars Julianne Moore as Gracie Atherton-Yoo, a Letourneau-esque figure who married her son's classmate who she she conceived a child with when he was 13 years old. Charles Melton plays Joe Yoo, her husband and former pet store coworker.

The film follows fictional actor Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman), who spends time with their family as she prepares to play Gracie in a film.

"I'm still alive and well," Fualaau told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. "If they had reached out to me, we could have worked together on a masterpiece. Instead, they chose to do a rip-off 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," Fualaau continued.

Letourneau and Fualaau were discovered together in a minivan in a Seattle suburb in June 1996, when Fualaau was 12 years old and Letourneau was 34. Letourneau became pregnant with their first child shortly after, and was arrested in 1997. She pleaded guilty to statutory rape and gave birth while awaiting sentencing. She was released on parole after three months in prison.

However, she violated her parole conditions by making contact with Fualaau, and then served her full seven-year prison term. She gave birth to her and Fualaau's second child in prison in October 1998. The couple were eventually married in 2005, and Fualaau filed to separate in May 2017. Their divorce was finalized in 2019. Letourneau died in July 2020 of cancer at age 58.

Writer Samy Burch told The Hollywood Reporter at the film's premiere that "May December" isn't an adaptation of Letourneau and Fualaau's story, though the movie was inspired by it.

"It wasn't the same details — I certainly don't want anyone to assume that we're trying to say all these conversations happened behind closed doors, it's not," Burch said. "This was just a jumping off point and a way that something like this made sense to me emotionally."

Director Todd Haynes told The Hollywood Reporter that he initially distanced himself from Letourneau and Fualaau's story, but occasionally referenced it.

"There were times when it became very, very helpful to get very specific about the research and we learned things from that relationship, even in the ways that it differed from the relationship between Gracie and Joe in our film," Haynes told the publication.

Fualaau told The Hollywood Reporter that neither Haynes, Burch, nor Melton reached out to him, despite the obvious similarities between him and Melton's character Joe. However, he's still open to his life experience being adapted — just not like "May December."

"I love movies — good movies. 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," he said.

"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]," Fualauu continued.

Representatives for Netflix, Haynes, Burch, and Melton did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.