Manti Te’o, who discovered in 2012 that his deceased online lover was not only still alive but also not the person she claimed to be, says he is coming out about the incident in order to recover. In a new two-part Netflix documentary titled “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist,” the award-winning football star and Heisman Trophy candidate tells his side of the tale.
Te’o, who is now a free agent, said on Tuesday’s “CBS Mornings”: “In order for me to kind of recover from this, I wanted to expose it.” “At this time, I pushed myself to be honest and to have those difficult talks if someone asked me about it or had concerns, and I began to sense the power that would come from doing so.”
Te’o reported the deaths of Lenay Kekua and his grandmother within hours of one another during his final year at Notre Dame in 2012. Kekua, a 22-year-old student at Stanford University, was reportedly involved in a catastrophic vehicle accident before being diagnosed with leukemia.
Te’o said that he had never seen her in person and had only interacted with her digitally before to Kekua’s alleged death.
“There were efforts to meet,” he added, adding that in some cases airline tickets had been obtained. “There were justifications such as ‘Oh, a family member is sick. Someone was hospitalized.’ And as for me, I’m not going to say “Prove it.”
In 2013, the sports publication Deadspin was unable to discover records of Kekua’s death or a vehicle accident on the dates indicated. They said that the true person behind the images was a Seattle resident called Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.
Te’o said on “CBS Mornings” that he was as shocked as the general public upon learning this knowledge at the time. When he was subsequently informed of the terrible information, he did not divulge it.
Te’o said, “I didn’t know what to think.” “You wouldn’t expect someone to say, ‘Hey, somebody’s dead,’ and then three months later, ‘Someone’s living.’” What are you going to do with that data?” The football player said. “Do you phone someone and say, “Hey, I just discovered that someone is alive”?
Following the report, Te’o got online outrage from those who claimed he was complicit in the plot. During this period, the athlete, who is one of the most decorated college football players in a single season, had “a great deal of self-discovery.”
“I did not understand how much I valued the views of others,” he remarked.
He thanked his family members for their support and highlighted that he had had lost someone many years ago.
Te’o said, “I want to shed more light on my grandma since this narrative practically obscures her.” If there is one thing I would want to accomplish, it would be to offer my grandma the respect that has been lacking for the last 10 years, since I lost her.
Currently, in 2022, Te’o is married with one daughter and is expecting a boy.
He advised anyone with mental health difficulties to seek assistance. He said, “That is not something to take lightly.”