Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau Legally Separate More Than 20 Years After Teacher-Student Affair

Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau are legally splitting up, ET can confirm.

In court documents obtained by ET, Fualaau filed for separation on May 9 from his wife and former teacher, who was convicted of felony second-degree rape of a child in 1997 after engaging in a sexual affair with her then-sixth grade student.

There's reason to believe, however, that the couple may not be broken up. According to Radar Online, Fualaau explained that the split is merely to protect his business interests to get licensed as a distributor for "Cigaweed" marijuana cigarettes.

MORE NEWS: Two Nigerian lesbians celebrate 3 years anniversary (Photos)

"It's not necessarily what you think, the now 33-year-old Fualaau reportedly told the tabloid. "Of course [we are still in love]. A piece of paper doesn't break someone's feelings!"

"When you want to get licensed, they do background checks on both parties," he reportedly said. "If I decide to be a part of it I have to be licensed and I have to be vetted and so does a spouse. She has a past. She has a history."

However, other reports claim that the couple is actually splitting up.

"They've been having issues for a while now," a source close to the couple reportedly told People. "They tried to work through them, but it didn't work. They're still committed to being good parents to their children."

ET has reached out to Fualaau's lawyer.

The controversial couple made national headlines when they got married in 2005, after Letourneau completed a seven-and-a-half year prison sentence for meeting up with Fualaau, which violated the parole agreement stemming from her initial six-month conviction and being barred for life from seeing Fualaau. In the initial conviction, Letourneau pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree child rape, and served three of her six months, and was also sentenced to three years of sex offender treatment.

In 2015, the two celebrated their 10-year-anniversary, introducing their teenage daughters, Audrey and Georgia, on 20/20 with Barbara Walters.