“I’m surprised I’m still alive today,†Vili said. “I went through a really dark time.â€
Vili grew up impoverished without a father and had a tumultuous relationship with his mother. When his affair with Mary began, and after she became pregnant with his child, Vili said he felt that he had no support system to help him through it.
“It was a huge change in my life, for sure,†he said. “I don’t feel like I had the right support, the right help behind me ... from my family, from anyone, in general. I mean, my friends couldn't help me because they had no idea what it was like to be a parent, I mean, because we were all 14, 15.â€
Vili said he had counseling sessions, but even then he struggled because he said counselors wanted him to take antidepressant medication to "even him out."
“I don’t even think the counselors knew how to deal with it. It was just weird,†he said. “I was like, ‘Why do I need to be on an antidepressant pill?’ And they said it was to level you out so they can have a conversation with you. ... It just kind of just really annoyed me through the years.â€
Vili was forbidden from visiting Mary in prison, but he said it would have helped him if he had been able to talk to her during that time.
“I think the only person that I really ... needed to talk to-- I mean, if they gave me more options or choices to make instead of just saying, ‘Oh, you can’t talk to her anymore,’ and I was like, ‘I really do want to talk to her, though,’†Vili said.
Mary was released from prison in August 2004, and the couple was married 10 months later in a lavish ceremony at a winery in Washington state. Vili was 21 years old.
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