


He also signed a two-year deal with the New Orleans Saints in 2017. In 2013, he was drafted into the NFL by the Los Angeles Chargers during the second round.
#Manti teo contract professional
“My whole world changed, and I’m questioning everything,” he added.īut teams did not fail to spot Te’o potential as he still became a successful professional football player. In the trailer, Te’o said, “I was afraid this was gonna affect my NFL future.” Te'o told ESPN that he had never met Kekua in person and that her picture was always blocked whenever they spoke over video chat.Īfter the incident, the football star had doubts about his football career and whether or not he would still make it to the NFL. It was eventually reported that Te'o was the victim of a catfishing prank planned by three people. The pictures Te'o said were Kekua's were also discovered to be of a 22-year-old woman from Torrance, California, who said she has never met the athlete, according to Deadspin. 11, 2012, there was no SSA record of the death of Lennay Marie Kekua, that day or any other, the report said.

While Social Security Administration records showed that Te'o's grandmother died on Sept. However, after months of investigation, Deadspin reported in 2013 that Kekua, who supposedly battled leukemia and was a student at Stanford University, did not truly exist. It immediately became one of the biggest stories in college football, ABC News reported. We're incredibly grateful to both Manti Te'o and Ronaiah 'Naya' Tuiasosopo for sharing their truths with us.”ĭuring his senior season at Notre Dame in 2012, Te'o announced that his grandmother and his girlfriend both died on the same day. It was impossible to miss this story when it first broke in 2012, but as viewers will see in the documentary, what really transpired is so much more complex and nuanced than we understood at the time. They continued, “Our Volume 2 premiere is 'The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist,' which explores the story behind college football star Manti Te'o's headline-grabbing online relationship. With each story we're continually surprised by our subjects - at how vulnerable they are willing to be, but also how relatable their experiences and journeys are on a deep, human level," they said, according to People. "Our goal with 'Untold' has always been to take these moments in sports history - whether infamous, like the Tim Donaghy betting scandal, or lesser-known, like the history of AND1 - and give viewers an unfiltered, inside-access look at what really happened, told by the people who lived it. The documentary will include interviews with Naya Tuiasosopo, formerly known as Ronaiah Tuiasosopo - the suspected mastermind behind the fake girlfriend - where she shares that she is a transgender woman, People reported.ĭirectors and executive producers Chapman Way and Maclain Way said in a statement that the 31-year-old Heisman Trophy nominee’s story was more “complex and nuanced” than people understood at the time. Netflix released a trailer for “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist,” a two-part documentary that is set to chronicle the hoax involving the former Notre Dame star whose terminally ill girlfriend, “Lennay Kekua,” never existed. A new Netflix documentary will explore the 2012 catfishing scandal involving NFL linebacker Manti Te'o.
