Asked if the children, whom she did get to see while she was locked up, knew anything about what was going on, she explained, ” I mean, the story is that their mother was away at prison. And now, finally, their mommy and daddy are back together. And that’s the story. And I’ve told my oldest one, at least, that, you know, mommy’s doing a time-out.”
Her four eldest children had visited from Alaska four times a year. Gehrke’s wife, Susan, would drive Audrey and Georgia to the prison twice a month to see her.
“I know that my children and I are going to work very closely through this, and use as many resources as we have to to make sure we grow through this in a healthy way,” Letourneau also said on Larry King Live. “I’m very sensitive to each of my older children’s developmental level and their understanding right now….I’m there for them right now. They’re in Alaska, but I stay very close in touch with them. And it’s not—it hasn’t been appropriate to talk with my 10 and 12-year-old right now. I’ll do that with their father, knowing, you know, that…of course, I’ll answer questions that they directly, and I have answered questions. “
Letourneau said that she didn’t consider her life to be “tumultuous,” a word King used. Rather, it was “blessed.”
“I’m healthy. My children are healthy. And I still have a mother. And I come from a very loving family. And I have Vili,” she said. At the time, she was not allowed to leave the state of Washington without permission. She could teach again, she said, just not in the public school system.
