Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax featured in 'Untold' Netflix doc

Publish date: 2024-06-07

The wild catfishing scandal involving NFL linebacker Manti Te’o is getting the Netflix treatment.

The trailer for the upcoming two-part documentary, “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist” was released Tuesday and is set to chronicle the elaborate hoax involving the former Notre Dame star and Heisman Trophy nominee whose terminally ill girlfriend, “Lennay Kekua,” never existed.

“My whole world changed, and I’m questioning everything,” the now-31-year-old Te’o says in the trailer for the docuseries, which drops on Netflix next month.

Manti Te’o appears in the upcoming Netflix documentary, “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist.” Netflix
Manti Te’o during his time at Notre Dame in October 2009. Getty Images
Manti Te’o of Notre Dame speaks to the media during the NFL Combine in February 2013. Getty Images

During his senior season in 2012, Te’o’s grandmother died in September. Then it was said that Kekua, who was said to be battling leukemia, did as well just hours later. In the months that followed, though, an extensive Deadspin report asserted that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, an associate of Te’o, was the suspected mastermind behind the now infamous fake girlfriend.

Tuiasosopo, who now goes by Naya Tuisaosopo, will appear in the docuseries, sharing that she’s a transgender woman, per People.

In the years following the scandal, Te’o has bounced around the NFL since being drafted in the second round by the Chargers in 2013. He signed a two-year deal with the Saints in 2017 before being signed to the Bears’ practice squad three years later. Te’o’s practice squad contract with the Bears expired in January 2021 and he’s currently a free agent.

Manti Te’o with wife Jovi Nicole. Instagram

Outside of football, Te’o has also moved on. He married fitness enthusiast Jovi Nicole in 2020. The couple welcomed a daughter last summer.

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