The Complicated True Story of ‘The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist’ and Manti Te’o Catfish. A new Netflix documentary, check it out here.
Manti Te’o : Catfished | Netflix | Wife | Documentary
Te’o came into his senior year as one of the most celebrated players and recruits both on the state and national levels, landing on a number of national top ten recruiting lists before the start of the season.
| Career information | |
|---|---|
| High school: | Punahou School (Honolulu, Hawaii) |
| College: | Notre Dame |
| Position: | Linebacker |
| NFL Draft: | 2013 / Round: 2 / Pick: 38 |
| Career history | |
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He received offers from over 30 college programs. During his senior year, Te’o helped lead Punahou to its first-ever state championship in football during the 2008 season.
He amassed 129 tackles, including 11 sacks, forced three fumbles, tipped four passes and totaled 19 quarterback hurries.
On offense at running back, Te’o rushed for 176 yards (5.3 yards per carry) and four touchdowns and had three receptions, two for touchdowns.
He also had three interceptions, returning one 49 yards for a touchdown. He also returned a blocked punt for a touchdown.
Catfished
The bizarre catfishing scandal that embroiled Notre Dame senior standout linebacker Manti Te’o a decade ago is now the subject of a Netflix documentary.
Te’o, currently an NFL free agent, discussed the project entitled “Untold: the Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist” on CBS Mornings today.
“In order for me to kind of heal from this, I needed to reveal it,” he said. “I challenged myself at this time that if anybody asked about it or had questions about it, that I would be open and I would have those hard conversations, and I started to feel the strength that I would get from talking about it.”
In 2012, Te’o was a Heisman finalist and Butkus Award winner as the mainstay of a strong defensive unit that led the Fighting Irish all the way to the BCS national championship game.
In interviews at the time, he spoke about the loss of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, a Stanford student who had died of leukemia at nearly the same time Te’o’s grandmother passed away.
Manti Te’o Netflix
Football player Manti Te’o, who learned in 2012 that his late online girlfriend was not only alive but also not the person she claimed, says that he’s speaking out about the situation in order to heal from it.
In a new two-part Netflix documentary called “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist,” the award-winning player and Heisman Trophy finalist provides his side of the story.
“In order for me to kind of heal from this, I needed to reveal it,” Te’o, who is now a free agent, told “CBS Mornings” on Tuesday.
“I challenged myself at this time that if anybody asked about it or had questions about it, that I would be open and I would have those hard conversations, and I started to feel the strength that I would get from talking about it.”
Manti Te’o wife
In February 2020, Te’o became engaged to his girlfriend, personal trainer and beauty consultant Jovi Nicole Engbino. The couple married in La Jolla, California on August 29, 2020.
Te’o told many media outlets that both his grandmother and his girlfriend had died on September 11, 2012.
Manti said that his girlfriend, Stanford University student Lennay Kekua, had been injured in a car accident, and was discovered during her treatment to have leukemia.
Te’o did not miss any football games for Notre Dame, saying that he had promised Kekua he would play even if something had happened to her.
Many sports media outlets reported on these tragedies during Te’o’s strong 2012 season and emergence as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Documentary
Netflix’s sports-centric “Untold” docuseries is set to release its second volume in August, focusing on the bizarre catfishing hoax that snared former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o.
Te’o was the face of Notre Dame’s 2012 national championship game-bound team as he put together an impressive individual season for the Fighting Irish.
He received significant buzz as a Heisman Trophy candidate, the campaign for which was bolstered by the “fact” his grandmother and girlfriend died on the same September day, hours apart.
The only problem: Te’o’s girlfriend didn’t exist. At least, not as he thought she did.
In “Untold: The Girlfriend who Didn’t Exist,” Te’o reveals in his own words how he became involved with his online girlfriend, who went by Lennay Kekua; his burgeoning doubts as to her identity; and the backlash he received when he was revealed to be the victim of a catfishing hoax.