Manti Te’o speaks out for the first time on being catfished | His catfisher now identifies as a woman
In 2012, Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te’o was messaged on Facebook by a young LA-based woman, Lennay Kekua, and the pair struck up a friendship, which later developed into a meaningful relationship.
Manti would try numerous times to meet Lennay, but there was always an excuse. The two spoke often on the phone.
On the Netflix documentary Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist, Manti talks about learning about the horrific car accident, and then later diagnosed with Leukemia.
She reportedly died from cancer shortly afterwards, and Te’o’s last words was ‘I love you’.
Ronaiah ‘Naya’ Tuiasosopo created a fake profile because he fell in love with Te’o. His love for Te’o would actually end up costing the star linebacker millions. People were afraid to draft Te’o because of this relationship. I mean, he had a fake girlfriend, and was catfished hard. Te’o even admitted he had to rediscover who he was as a human in the documentary.
Tuiasosopo has since changed identities and is now a transgender woman. She claims she is not proud or happy with the decision she made.
Here is the trailer for documentary.