Dead girlfriend hoaxer ‘did it for love’
Manti Te’o truly believed he was talking to a woman, 22-year-old Ronaiah Tuiasosopo told TV host Dr Phil McGraw, adding that he, the hoaxer, had fallen “deeply, romantically” in love with Te’o while pretending to be a woman called Lennay Kekua.
Since the hoax was revealed last month, Te’o has said the relationship with Kekua started online and eventually became serious, even though the two only talked on the phone and exchanged online messages, never meeting in person.
Te’o said he was told of Kekua’s “death” from leukaemia just hours after his grandmother died in September.
The story about how Te’o played well after the deaths of his girlfriend and grandmother led to an outpouring of support from Notre Dame fans and he became a US hero. It became the backdrop to his team’s undefeated regular season and run to the national championship game, where they eventually lost.
Tuiasosopo said the voice of Kekua was his. Tuiasosopo and Te’o each said while the Kekua relationship went on for several years, there were times when they weren’t in contact.
“There were many times where Manti and Lennay had broken up. But something would bring them back together whether it was something going on in his life, or in Lennay’s life, in this case in my life,” Tuiasosopo said.
Tuiasosopo said he wanted to end the relationship between Kekua and Te’o before he had to fake Kekua’s death. “I wanted to end it because everything I had gone through, I finally realised that I just had to move on with my life and I had to get me, Ronaiah, I had to start just living and let this go,” Tuiasosopo said.
Te’o’s publicist, Matthew Hiltzik, declined to comment yesterday.
When the ruse was reported by deadspin.com on Jan 16, the report raised the questions about whether Te’o was involved.
Te’o won seven national awards for his play and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy for the best player in college football. He has denied any involvement from the beginning, and Notre Dame said an investigation of the player’s claims backed up his story.
“The feelings, the pain, the sorrow, that was all real,” Te’o told Katie Couric in an interview last week.
Dr Phil says “absolutely, unequivocally” Te’o had no role in creating the hoax.
Te’o said he first learned that something was amiss when Kekua called him on Dec 6, and told him she had faked her death.
He told his parents about what had happened while home for Christmas and called Notre Dame coaches on Dec 26 to let them know. Notre Dame officials said they interviewed Te’o and retained Stroz Friedberg, a New York computer forensics firm, to investigate the case. They learned on Jan 3 that there were no records indicating Lennay Kekua existed.
McGraw said he spent hours with Tuiasosopo and his parents, saying he had a number of life experiences that “damaged this young man in some very serious ways”.
Dr Phil said Tuiasosopo had feelings for Te’o. “Here we have a young man that fell deeply, romantically in love,” he said.
He asked Tuiasosopo if he is gay. “He said, ‘Well, when you put it that way, yes.’ Then he caught himself and said, ‘I am confused.’”
Te’o was also asked by Couric if he is gay. Te’o said “no” with a laugh. “Far from it. Faaaar from that,” he said.
Te’o said in the interview that Tuiasosopo tweeted him a direct message on Jan 16, saying he had been behind the hoax. The message read: “I completely accept the consequences to the pain I’ve caused & it’s important that you know the truth before anyone else.”
Te’o told Couric that Tuiasosopo later called him and explained what he did. “He didn’t say why. He just explained that he just wanted to help people and that was his way of helping people. Of being someone that he wasn’t and trying to connect with somebody on a different level to help them out,” Te’o said.
Te’o said he didn’t say much to Tuiasosopo. “I just found that everything that I believed to be my reality wasn’t my reality at all,” Te’o said.
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