Manti Te’o is a name that will never be forgotten.
The all-around star in high school had a full football scholarship at the University of Notre Dame until tragedy struck when his grandma died and then his girlfriend. Both on the same day.
Unfortunately for him, his girlfriend never existed. It was revealed he had been the target of an elaborate catfishing hoax spearheaded by Ronaiah “Naya” Tuiasosopo.
Te’o and Tuiasosopo both rehash the infamous scandal in “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist” — a two-part Netflix documentary.
Ronaiah ‘Naya’ Tuiasosopo, now identifies as a female.
Tuiasosopo used photos of high school classmate Diane O’ Meara without her knowledge to create the fake online persona of Kekua.
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Te’o and Tuiasosopo agreed to be interviewed separately for the documentary because they were “unsatisfied” with how their story was portrayed in the media a decade ago.
“When we started filming, they hadn’t been in contact since the scandal broke. They hadn’t talked, they hadn’t seen each other,” the doc’s executive producers, brothers Chapman Way and Maclain Way, said in an interview with The Post. “And so it was a really interesting way of making this. They haven’t been in contact. They haven’t been in communication.
“But I think kind of what made these interviews so powerful is they were drawing on memories from 10 years ago. Memories that have stayed with them. Very powerful memories. Very powerful emotions. I think both of them are still working through kind of what this whole scandal was and how it affected them individually.”
Manti Te’o played 7 seasons for the Chargers, Saints, and Bears. He had 212 solo tackles, 95 assists, 1.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, and 2 interceptions.
