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Manti Te'o claims he was tricked into falling for a woman who didn't exist.
She was beautiful, brainy, brave — and really unlucky.
A tantalizing portrait has emerged of Lennay Kekua, the doomed character at the center of the Manti Te'o hoax.
Te'o says he now knows his online girlfriend was "someone's sick joke," and Notre Dame says she was "fictitious." Muddying the waters, an NFL player claims to have met the woman, or at least someone using her name, in the flesh.
Imaginary or real, this much can be said about Lennay Kekua: She was a dream.
"Looked like a model," Arizona Cardinals fullback Reagan Mauia, who claims to have befriended her in 2011, told ESPN. "Volleyball-type of physique...She was athletic, tall, beautiful. Long hair. Polynesian."
In an earlier ESPN interview, Te'o called her "the most beautiful" girl he had ever met -- never mind that he apparently never laid eyes on her.
A seemingly invented account of a first meeting, offered by Teo's father to an Indiana newspaper, said the athlete was drawn to her "warm smile and soulful eyes" when they saw each other in 2009.
Photos posted on Kekua's Twitter and Facebook accounts were reportedly of another good-looking woman.
But Kekua was more than just a pretty face.
According to a South Bend Tribune profile of Te'o, his 22-year-old girlfriend was a scholar at Stanford University, a gifted musician, and fluent in several languages. She was majoring in English “or something” and had a way with children, Te’o told Sports Illustrated.
She was portrayed as a traveler, supposedly living and attending school in California, but popping off to Hawaii from time to time to see Te'o, according to Deadspin's pieced-together timeline of their relationship. He told Sports Illustrated she went to New Zealand to work with kids.
Mauia said he met her while doing charity work in American Samoa in June 2011. They became "good friends" and he consoled her after the death of her father, he said.
"I offered a comforting shoulder and just someone to bounce her emotions off," Mauia said.
The family was originally from Hawaii, Te’o told SI. They ran a construction firm where Kekua, naturally, also worked, he said.
Her parents named her Melelengei at birth but also called her Lala for short, he said. She had a sister and a twin brother, Koa.
Her father's death was the start of what could only be described as stunning run of rotten luck.
By Te'o's account, she was nearly killed in a car accident in California sometime last year – she “flatlined” twice and was hooked up to machines for weeks, Te’o said -- and then battled back from her injuries.
Then came an even bigger blow, as the story goes: a diagnosis of leukemia.
Te'o and his family said she was treated at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif. She had a heart of gold, befriending a little girl who was terminal, Te'o claimed. And she had grit, enduring a bone-marrow transplant, according to Te'o's father.
In June, she was doing "really well," the dad told an interviewer. By September, though, she was reported to be contemplating her demise with uncommon courage.
The way the linebacker told it, Kekua was unselfish to the very end, making him promise that he wouldn't miss a game, even for her funeral. Instead, she said, when he learned from Koa that she was dead, he sent a bouquet of flowers.
When he spoke about it, he revealed one more tidbit about Kekua: She really loved white roses.
The inspirational story of Notre Dame's star linebacker Manti Te'o leading his team to glory despite his girlfriend's death made national headlines. But after Deadspin.com reported that the woman never existed, Te'o is now saying he was the victim of "someone's sick joke." NBC's John Yang reports.
Related:
The 9 biggest mysteries in the Te'o girlfriend hoax
Leave a Comment:
This is such an odd story. I don't know what to really think.
He's either a total schmuck or a pathetic liar. Not sure what he'd gain out of having an imaginary girlfriend. This guy could have had any number of chicks so why would he have a girlfriend of 3 years and never meet her. Must have had one helluva happy sock and a lot of hand lotion. Maybe he's just gay. Who knows, you can't explain anything rational whichever direction this goes.
You shouldn't have a problem of "what to think" about this. Remember one thing and one thing only and that is the world is going to hell in a hand basket but people are more worried about whether or not this guy was made a fool. Isn't one soap opera enough at any one time for the world to take in? We still have Lance Armstrong to worry about.
Just remember one thing about Lance. He must have a pretty big ball to leave his wife and kids for Cheryl Crowe who claims to be able to wipe herself with one sheet of TP. I mean you don't leave your wife and kids for just anybody do you?
I still can't believe this kind of stuff makes the nightly news and people wonder why we don't watch the news any more.
My imaginary girlfriend is hotter than your imaginary girlfriend.
Before the draft, I would seriously think about this guy getting a psych evaluation. How do you sustain a year long relationship, no skype, no face to face introductions, nothing? Psychiatrist should be a priority and taking his computer to ascertain what is on his hard drive. Do I want him on my NFL team? Not until I am positive he is not a head case.
This is not news. Just putting the spotlight of a fb player who has serious problems. This is NOT news.
I kneeeeewwww it!! This story of his was so sappy, so unlikely, the only conclusion this skeptical NJ boy could come to was that he was looking for the Heisman sympathy vote. Let's watch him try and dance out of this one,....imagine if he had won the Heisman....would he have had to give it back???? Suppose he had gotten up on the podium after winning the National Championship and/or the Heisman and dedicated the trophy/s to his sweetie. Whew....that was a close one. (Not the game, that was a laugher). Call Lance, maybe he can help.
This has to do with $$$$...he wanted to be 'popular' and have the public love him and be sympathetic because of his supposed 'loss'....more like PATHETIC...as in pathetic LOSER
Well, think this, Te'o has a screw loose and needs help but not football. What a loser!!!!!
He seems to know this girl really well for someone who has never met her in person. How can you fall in love with someone you've never met? And if the love of your life was dying, I can't believe you wouldn't want to see her, or later attend her funeral or visit her in the cemetary...or even send her family a condolence card.
Sounds to me like this imaginary girlfriend served as a beard so he wouldn't have to explain why he wasn't dating any girls, a handsome, eligible guy like him. Someone tell him that nobody really cares about that stuff anymore. Better gay, than a nut job.
Te'o is either a liar or a complete idiot.
I am more troubled by Notre Dame's backing of him than his own twisted imagination.
He knew it was BS from the start...this was all a sympathy ploy....but since he can make plays he will be excused from being a liar and a fraud and make millions...the great American way.........
So, a start football player who attended Norte Dame and, apparently, loves a lot of drama, couldn't find a real girlfriend? Wow, what hope is there for the rest of us...
Dam, It looks like two liars got busted this week. One was a international figure and one was a figure of the sports media's imagination. This dude needs help! I'm not kidding. I am not buying he did not know this girl was not real. I'm sorry but he had to know. Lance on the other hand has his own issues. It ain't all about you dude! I do have a question however. How was his cheating allowed to go on? Someone or some panel dropped the ball big time. Heads should be rolling over this. You can bet people are getting paid big bucks to see this does not happen. Where the hell were they for all the years Lance was acting super human?
MY imaginary girlfriend is DOING your imaginary girlfriend right now while I watch in my mind's eye.
---
On a more serious note... If Mantihoes wasn't directly involved in this hoax and was truly a victim, then:
1. It reaffirms the "dumb jock" stereotype
2. Has anyone considered that maybe someone from Alabama might have been involved, as an "insurance policy" to their winning whatever game it was they won?
2b. If you can't tell, I really don't follow college football
3. That this makes for great publicity, lousy news, and illustrates every reason why I've always said:
a. Do not give out any personal information online.
b. Do not believe anything you read online.
c. No amount of drama is worth the effort it takes to create it.
Sounds like back and forth among multiple descriptions of girlfriends. I think reality was depending on the day which hand he used in the shower was the "girlfriend".
You gotta love the "Lying Irish"!!!
He's certainly a liar but not Irish
@really? He's referring to the Notre Dame team Manti was a member of..The Fighting Irish.
dump his stupid ass...................
Not IRISH!, You idiot!!!!!
I knew my e-lover was legit when she told me she would arrange her funeral for a Tuesday so I didn't miss any football games. Whaddagal! Then she texted me 15 minutes later and said the donor organ arrived within 7 minutes of its expiration time and the transplant went well and she'd be home tomorrow morning.
bah-dum-tissssh!
So, this jock sexts with a guy impersonating a woman and then the guy gets tired of the jock and dumps him and makes him think she's dying of an STD. What surprises me is that his girl friend didn't claim to be pregnant and try to extort money or even an autographed football from him. Or, maybe there's more to this story than has been told in the media.
He most probably is of the "alternative persuasion".
There is no bottom to how low people will go to embellish their egos and stardom. The worst of the whole situation is there are learned people who through the whole time this mascaraed has been going never looked or sought the truth, even when it got to the point of so syrupy and nauseating that you would think red flags would come up. I guess it has been a tough week for sports journalists. Those folks in the media are going to have a bit of work to do in putting their own Humpty-Dumpty back together.
Why is this even news? Who gives a rats a**? I sure don't.
Exactly.
You both read the article and commented on it, so you must.
And yet here you are, not only reading but commenting as well.
opened the article only because I had no idea what a manti teo was. Big waste of time. who give a rat dropping who is or isn't some football player's girlfriend
What a joke - Another example of the Notre Dame football team and players getting more press than they deserve - overatted all year long - if this would have come to light during the season, I'm guessing the Heisman voting would have been a lot closer between Manziel and Klien.
Let me show you a picture of imaginary girlfriend. Just a second, its around here somewhere . . . . . . . . . . .
Once again, my user name says it all for me...
LimaMikeAlphaOscar!
Since both he and his father claimed to meet the girl I would say that he made it up to impress his friends and it got out of hand. Oh the web we weave when we strive to deceive.
Someone told me they thought he's gay and just made this up so he could play for a Catholic school and that he'll probably come out after he's in the NFL. I guess that's as plausible as any other explanation. Certainly makes more sense than being duped by an imaginary girl for 3 years!
And yet you felt the need to comment.
Notre Dame is where championship football and girl friends don't exist. What a joke!
championship football? since when?
Once again "social networking" has proved to be what it is - a big farce! Wake up people - whether you put your life on line or just fall for a hoax (or as I think in this case, be part of the hoax) you're doomed to have it all exposed to the world, for forever. Amen.
Why is this news?
Because this is the crap they like to report about.
The national obsession with football makes it news.
If all this "insanity" would have happened after the Alabama game, I could understand it. His ass was so run over by those Bama boys I'm sure he could say his brain was damaged and that he was delerious. Since it happened before the Bama game, I'd have to say this guy is "just strange".
Didn't George Constanza have a picture of an imaginary girlfriend who he said died, which he used to meet models?
love that episode
How absolutely ridiculous. Why is this being treated as news?
The only way I'd draft this guy is if he was cleared by a shrink. The league is full of overpaid spoiled brats that cause a lot more trouble than there worth. This guy might be more unpredictable and harder to manage than those egotistical, egocentric, @!$%#head, tatooed, gold chained, gold tooth, drug heads already f.....g up the league.
It's all a cover-up. Look for a boyfriend instead ;-)
This is very sad. This guy has clearly got a screw loose. This has been going on since 2009? He has had an imaginary girlfriend for 4 years? And the craziest part is one of his friends MET the fictitious girlfriend. He is just a microcosm of the people in this country - crazy and unapologetic for it.
The kids a liar or an idiot.
apparently both
This is front-page news?
Who cares?!? This thing has gotten WAAAAAAY more coverage than it deserves already. Let's move on.
Exactly. I'm really trying to understand why I am supposed to care about this. This has consumed the news for 3 or 4 days now and I don't understand why. Why am I supposed to care about this man's love life, real or fictional? Maybe someone who knows better can enlighten me.