NFL star Manti Te'o was branded a hero when he bravely took to the pitch on the day he lost both his grandmother and his girlfriend in September 2012.

But a phone call three months later turned his life upside down, when he discovered the woman he'd loved and mourned for hadn't died from cancer. In fact, she hadn't existed at all.

It was a “painful and humiliating” moment for Manti, now 31, when he discovered he'd fallen victim to an elaborate catfish plot.

The woman he believed he'd been dating for nine months, Lennay Kekua, was invented by Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, a childhood friend of Manti's from Hawaii – who has since transitioned to become a woman.

Tuiasosopo used photos of a high school classmate called Diane O'Meara to create a fake profile in order to woo Manti, having fallen in love with the sportsman who made his name playing linebacker at Notre Dame.

Now the shocking catfish tale is explored in a Netflix two-parter called Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist, out tomorrow.

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“My whole world changed, and I’m questioning everything,” says Manti – now married with a daughter – in the trailer.

Fear of rejection

In the documentary, Tuiasosopo explains it was a “total fear” of rejection that led her to “create this fictional character”.

She claims she'd fallen deeply in love with Manti but "didn’t have the courage to just be like, ‘This is who I am’", adding she "didn’t expect it to blow up so quickly".

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The unlikely relationship began online in late 2011, when Tuiasosopo claimed she was already “deeply in love” with her friend.

Tuiasosopo carefully crafted alter-ego Lennay, a stunning 22-year-old Stanford student.

She connected with the footballer on Twitter and Facebook, and they bonded over their Polynesian roots and her interest in his strong Mormon beliefs.

Lennay was also “gifted in music, multi-lingual and had dreams”, Manti’s father Brian told the South Bend Tribune.

The sportsman was smitten, and in a statement after the deceit was revealed said: “We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship.

“By communicating frequently online and on the phone, I grew to care deeply about her.”

Heartbreaking deception

Manti and Lennay planned to meet multiple times in Hawaii, but every time the student would make an excuse and fail to show up.

Despite this, Manti's feelings deepened after hours of "intimate conversations" on the phone, during which they made plans for the future.

But it wasn't Lennay on the phone – Tuiasosopo had enlisted her cousin Tino to help with the con.

By communicating frequently online and on the phone, I grew to care deeply about her

Tuiasosopo created a backstory for Lennay, telling Manti she'd been in a terrible car accident, and had then discovered she had leukaemia, requiring a bone marrow transplant and lengthy stays in hospital.

While Lennay was "in a coma", Manti spent hours on the phone with his girlfriend to “hear her breathing on the other end of the line”.

Sports Illustrated reported he was told by fake family members that his girlfriend's breathing rate "would increase at the sound of his voice".

Double tragedy

In September, Manti’s grandmother Annette Santiago passed away. Less than 24 hours later, Tuiasosopo decided to kill off Lennay.

Hours before her 'death', she sent a message to Manti's dad Brian to express her condolences.

In an emotional speech that same day, Manti told crowds at a Notre Dame game that he was dedicating his season to his late girlfriend and grandmother.

He also revealed that he couldn’t attend her funeral because of a vow he'd made to Lennay.

In a CBS This Morning interview, Manti recalled her saying: “Babe, if anything happens to me, you promise that you'll stay there and you'll play and you'll honour me through the way you play.”

'Pain, grief and affection was real'

The reality was, Tuiasosopo had brought the con to an abrupt end by faking Lennay's death after realising she wanted to “move on with life”.

She explained: “I had to start just living and let this go.”

In December 2012, Manti received a shocking phone call telling him Lennay wasn’t dead – and a month later, a report by Deadspin revealed she'd never existed at all.

The sportsman was caught in the crossfire, accused of being in on the scam to manipulate fans’ emotions – allegations he firmly denied.

The pain was real. The grief was real. The affection was real – and that’s the nature of this sad, cruel game

Later, Notre Dame’s athletic director Jack Swarbrick told a press conference: “It was real to Manti. There was no suspicion that it wasn’t.

"The pain was real. The grief was real. The affection was real – and that’s the nature of this sad, cruel game."

Manti admitted he found it “incredibly embarrassing to talk about” and told ESPN: “I obviously should have been much more cautious.”

Concerned his career could have been derailed by the bombshell, he warned others to be "far more guarded" when talking to strangers online.

‘I'll never forgive her’

Later, Diane O'Meara was revealed as the woman whose pictures were stolen and used on Lennay's various social media profiles.

She only became aware of the hoax after being told about her photos being used on fundraising pages – including one that raised $3,000 (£2,500) for leukaemia research.

Diane told NBC’s Today show: “It’s very bizarre and it’s a very twisted and confusing scenario… she literally has been stalking my Facebook and stealing my photos."

Tuiasosopo apologised to her former classmate over the phone – but Diane admitted: “I don’t think there’s anything she can say to me that would fix this.”

Tuiasosopo now goes by the name Naya – while Manti married fitness influencer Jovi Nicole in an intimate beach ceremony in September 2020. The couple welcomed a daughter last year. 

Manti joined the NFL in 2013, after he was selected by the San Diego Chargers, and he's since played for New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears.

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He's currently a free agent, meaning he could leave Chicago to sign with other teams.

A decade on from the hoax, the shocking story features in Netflix's Untold series, which looks back at some of the biggest scandals in sport.

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