A new Netflix documentary will explore one of the most talked about moments in recent college football history.
UNTOLD, Netflix’s sports documentary series, will examine the story ofManti Te’o, the former Notre Dame football star who made headlines a decade ago when it was discovered he had been the target of a catfishing hoax.
The series' second volume will kick off on August 16 withThe Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist, a two-part documentary focusing on Te’o and how it unraveled thathis supposed girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, whom he thought died of leukemia during his senior football season, didn’t truly exist.
“My whole world changed,” Te’o says in the trailer for the docuseries, which PEOPLE can exclusively premiere. “And I’m questioning everything.”
In a statement, directors and executive producers Chapman Way and Maclain Way said Te’o’s story is “more complex and nuanced than we understood at the time.”
“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,” the pair adds. “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. We’re incredibly grateful to both Manti Te’o and Ronaiah ‘Naya’ Tuiasosopo for sharing their truths with us.”
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Te’o was a star linebacker at Notre Dame when he announced that Kekua had died after battling leukemia in 2012.
“She’s the most beautiful girl I have ever met, not because of her physical beauty but because of her character and who she is, she’s just that person that I turn to,” Te’o told ESPN at the time, according toCNN.
Te’o also said his grandmother died just hours before Kekua’s death in September of that year. He claimed these tragedies inspired him, and he eventuallyhelped Notre Dame reach the BCS National Championshipduring his senior year.
Deadspin’s report revealed Te’o and Kekua’s supposed relationship did not start in person as the footballer had suggested. Instead, it began over Twitter in Oct. 2011.
Te’o told ESPN that he had never met Kekua in person, and her picture was always blocked whenever they spoke over video chat. After being told of Kekua’s death, Te’o said he felt uncomfortable telling the media he had never met her.
“I even knew that it was crazy that I was with somebody that I didn’t meet,” he said. “So I kind of tailored my stories to have people think that, yeah, he met her before she passed away.”
UNTOLD’s second volume will also dig into the stories behind former NBA referee Tim Donaghy and his gambling scandal, AND1 sneakers and the America’s Cup race.
source: people.com
