Gossip: Manti Te’o
The male friend who pretended to be Manti Te’o’s girlfriend said he did it because he was in love with the Notre Dame linebacker.
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
The male friend who pretended to be Manti Te’o’s girlfriend for more than two years has revealed he did it because he was in love with the Notre Dame linebacker. Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, 22, said last week he was driven to begin an online relationship with Te’o while posing as a girl by “emotions that [I] couldn’t control.” Now, he said, he wants to “recover from homosexuality.” The church singer, who maintained the fictional persona of Lennay Kekua for over two years, told TV psychiatrist Dr. Phil McGraw that he used a falsetto voice to speak to Te’o over the phone. He also insisted the football player knew nothing of the ruse. “He really had fallen in love with this, well, character,” said Tuiasosopo.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website