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For the last two weeks, the story of Manti Te’o’s fake girlfriend has unraveled one layer at a
time.
The Notre Dame linebacker spoke, then a
Long Beach woman whose pictures were used in the ruse came forward. But the
biggest questions could be answered only by a
22-year-old man from Palmdale -- the man Te’o and the woman alleged was the
mastermind behind the hoax.
Now Ronaiah Tuiasosopo has broken his
silence publicly, saying he fell “deeply, romantically in
love” with the Heisman Trophy runner-up in an interview with Dr. Phil McGraw
set to air later this week.
“Here we have a young man that fell deeply,
romantically in love,” McGraw told the “Today” show Wednesday. “I asked him straight up,
‘Was this a romantic relationship with you?’ And he says, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Are
you then, therefore, gay?’ And he said, ‘Well, when you put it that way, yes.’
And then he caught himself and said, ‘I am confused.’”
The new revelations come a day after
Tuiasosopo’s attorney, Milton Grimes, told The Times his client “feels as
though he needs therapy and part of that therapy is to come out of the closet,
so to speak, and tell the truth.” Grimes said Tuiasosopo is seeing a medical
professional.
“His point is that he wants to heal,”
Grimes said. “He knows that if he doesn’t come out and tell the truth, it will
interfere with him getting out of this place that he is in.”
The comments add another twist to a story
so bizarre, reporters from across the country
bombarded Tuiasosopo’s family and friends after Deadspin.com revealed earlier
this month that Te’o’s girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, did not exist.
Tuiasosopo, the report said, was the
mastermind behind the hoax and used photos from an old high school classmate
and social media to connect Kekua with Te’o.
Te’o repeatedly spoke to the media,
including The Times, about his girlfriend, the car accident that left her
seriously injured and the leukemia that led to her September death. The tale
became one of the most well-known stories of the college football season as
Te’o led his team to an undefeated season and championship berth.
Te’o has denied any role in the ruse,
saying he spent hours on the phone with a woman he thought was Kekua.
Grimes confirmed his client pretended to be
Kekua, insisting it was possible that Tuiasosopo disguised his voice to sound
like a woman, similar to role-playing or method-acting techniques.
“I don’t think it’s so unusual that a
person could imitate that voice of a person of a different sex,” Grimes said.
Grimes offered no explanation as to why his
client hatched the plan but said he never wanted to hurt Te’o.
“He did not intend to harm him in any way,”
Grimes said. “It was just a matter of trying to have a communication with
someone.”
Those who know Tuiasosopo said they were
baffled when they learned of his involvement in the hoax. Neighbors and former
high school coaches described him as popular, faith-driven and family-oriented.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking about it,”
said Jon Fleming, Tuiasosopo’s former football coach at Antelope Valley High.
“It’s all speculation. He’s goofy just like any other kid. The question that comes
up in my mind is: ‘What could he possibly gain from doing something like this?’
It would really surprise me. What would he gain?”
Grimes said he warned his client that he
could face legal consequences for admitting that he falsified his identity on
the Internet. But Tuiasosopo insisted that going public was something he had to
do.
“This is part of my public healing,” Grimes
quoted Tuiasosopo as saying.
In a short clip of the TV
interview obtained by The Times, McGraw asks Tuiasosopo why he ended
his relationship with Te’o.
“For many reasons,” Tuiasosopo said. “There
were many times where Manti and Lennay had broken up before.... They would
break up, and then 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.”
ALSO:
Listen to Lennay Kekua’s voicemails for Manti Te’o
Lance Armstrong and Manti Te'o get trapped in a good story
Manti Te'o hoax: Diane O'Meara says she was hounded for photos
--Matt Stevens, Kate Mather and Ann Simmons
