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Manti T’eo and The Girlfriend Who Wasn’t There
A new Netflix documentary examines one of the strangest stories in sports and how it hurt a promising star’s future.
In September of 2012, the college sports world was captivated by the story of Manti T’eo. The standout player from Notre Dame announced that his grandmother and girlfriend had died on the same day. He dedicated his season to his loved ones, which seemed to light a fire in the young man. Notre Dame went to the BCS Championship game but lost to Alabama 42–14. He was still a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, awarded to Johnny Manziel (in hindsight, T’eo would have been a better representative of the award).
Manti’s story took a strange turn in January of 2013 when it was revealed that Manti’s girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, did not exist. Lennay was Ronaiah Tuiasosopo (who now identifies as female and goes by Naya), and the news created a buzz in the media. Further developments highlighted that he had never met Lennay in person but had met on Facebook. The pair had exchanged text messages and phone calls but had never spoken face to face.
A new installment of the Nextflix Untold series digs into this story. In interviews with Naya and Manti, as well as friends and family, the film paints a vivid account of the events that developed…