Manti Te’o Denies ‘Faking It’ in Girlfriend Hoax, Admits He ‘Tailored’ Story
Published at
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — While Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te’o told ESPN that he “wasn’t faking it” when he talked about his love for a woman who now appears to be part of an elaborate hoax involving an online relationship with a fictional girlfriend, he acknowledged that he had crafted stories about the woman he had called the love of his life.
Te’o admitted to a few mistakes in his own conduct, including telling his father he met “Lennay Kekua” in Hawaii even though his attempt to meet her actually failed. Later retellings of that tale led to inconsistencies in media reports, Te’o said, adding that he never actually met Kekua in person.
Te’o explained that he feared people would think it was crazy for him to be involved with someone that he never met, so, “I kind of tailored my stories to have people think that, yeah, he met her before she passed away.”
Te’o said he only learned for sure this week that he had been duped.
“When they hear the facts, they’ll know,” Te’o told ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap in his first interview since the story broke. “They’ll know that there is no way that I could be a part of this.”
On Wednesday, Te’o received a Twitter message, allegedly from a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, apologizing for the hoax, Te’o told Schaap.
The sports website Deadspin, which first revealed the hoax this week, has reported that Tuiasosopo, a 22-year-old of Samoan descent who lives in Antelope Valley, Calif., asked a woman he knew for her photo and that photo became the face of Kekua’s Twitter account.
Te’o told Schaap that Tuiasosopo was represented to him as Kekua’s cousin.
“I hope he learns,” Te’o said of Tuiasosopo, according to coverage of the interview on ESPN.com. “I hope he understands what he’s done. I don’t wish an ill thing to somebody. I just hope he learns. I think embarrassment is big enough.”
The relationship got started on Facebook during his freshman year, Te’o said.
“My relationship with Lennay wasn’t a four-year relationship,” Te’o said, according to ESPN.com. “There were blocks and times and periods in which we would talk and then it would end.”
He showed Schaap Facebook correspondence indicating that other people knew of Kekua — though Te’o now believes they, too, were tricked.
The relationship became more intense, Te’o said, after he received a call that Kekua was in a coma following a car accident involving a drunk driver on April 28.
Soon, Te’o and Kekua became inseparable over the phone, he said, continuing their phone conversations through her recovery from the accident, and then during her alleged battle against leukemia.
Even so, Te’o never tried to visit Kekua at her hospital in California.
“It never really crossed my mind,” he said, according to ESPN.com. “I don’t know. I was in school.”
But the communication between the two was intense. They even had ritual where they discussed scripture every day, Te’o said. His parents also participated via text message, and Te’o showed Schaap some of the texts.
On Sept. 12, a phone caller claiming to be Kekua’s relative told Te’o that Kekua had died of leukemia, Te’o said. However, on Dec. 6, Te’o said he got a call allegedly from Kekua saying she was alive. He said he was utterly confused and did not know what to believe.
ESPN’s 2 1/2-hour interview was conducted in Bradenton, Fla., with Te’o’s lawyer present but without video cameras. Schaap said Te’o was composed, comfortable and in command, and that he said he didn’t want to go on camera to keep the setting intimate and avoid a big production.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio