The Manti Te’o hoax keeps getting stranger and stranger.
The man who played the fake girlfriend of Te’o’ says he killed off Lennay Kekua because Te’o had started to speak to other women, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo spoke on the Dr. Phil Show. He said the relationship between Kekua and Te’o had become strained two weeks prior to Kekua’s supposed death.
“Things had gotten a little shaken,” he said. “They were talking less.”
Tuiasosopo says he backed off once he heard Te’o’s Grandma had died. But he says the two continued to fight.
“I was crying that morning,” he continued. “I was hurt, so right then and there I made this decision: ‘I can’t do this Lennay thing anymore.’ I ended it.”
Tuiasosopo says Te’o played no part of the hoax.
“As twisted and confusing as it may be, yeah, I cared for this person,” he said of Te’o. “I did all that I could to make this person a better person, even though I wasn’t getting nothing out of it.
“Of course it’s very shameful and very painful to talk about,” Tuiasosopo continued. “But the truth of it is that … I grew feelings. I grew emotions that sooner or later I couldn’t control anymore.”
In response to a question, Tuiasosopo told Dr. Phil he was gay.