The unique story of former Notre Dame linebacker great Manti Te’o is set to become a Netflix documentary.
The two-part event from Netflix’s UNTOLD series, titled The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist, will chronicle the shocking saga of Te’o being the target of a catfishing hoax right as he reached the peak of his college football career with the Fighting Irish in 2012. The documentary will seek to tell the complete story of how Te’o’s supposed girlfriend, “Lennay Kekua,” didn’t actually exist and the media firestorm that the story generated at the time.
Te’o was already a standout linebacker at Notre Dame in his senior year in when he announced publicly that Kekua had died of leukemia, just hours after his grandmother died in September 2012. The story became an inspirational one as he helped lead Notre Dame to a BCS national championship game appearance that season.
However, an investigation published by Deadspin in Jan. 2013 found no evidence that Kekua ever existed and that the pictures Te’o said were hers actually belonged to a 22-year-old woman that said she had never met the athlete. The report also revealed that Te’o had never met Kekua in person but instead began the relationship over Twitter.
Shortly after the Deadspin story broke, it was discovered that Kekua was actually created by Naya Tuiasosopo and two other individuals.
The upcoming documentary will dig into the story that unfolded almost a decade ago and feature interviews from Te’o, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick and the journalists who broke the story of the hoax. Tuiasosopo, a transgender woman who has transitioned since the story broke, will also appear in the episodes.
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Here’s a look at the trailer released by Netflix Tuesday.
Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist will premiere on Netflix on August 16.
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