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.
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.
-
Nvidia: unstoppable force, or powering down?Talking Point Sales of firm's AI-powering chips have surged above market expectations –but China is the elephant in the room
-
5 hard-working cartoons about Labor Day celebrationsCartoons Artists take on creation of AI, spelling mistakes, and more
-
Codeword: September 7, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
