Moreover, private investigators hired by Notre Dame prior to the Deadspin report concluded Te'o was a victim of the hoax. He’s 31 now, married with a child, and a couple years removed from his last snaps in the NFL.Įven back when the story first came out, there were plenty of fellow Notre Dame students willing to support his contention of being straight - which alone describes how absurd and awful this got. There is no, and never was, any indication that Te’o is or was gay. He was my strength.Then-Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o faced ridicule and scrutiny from the media after the story broke about his girlfriend who didn't exist. So when I lost my grandmother and Lennay, I thought of him. He was always more worried about everyone else, about getting everyone through his illness. All the chemo he went through, how hard he fought. It was kind of like, ‘Man, I know I can do this, but how long do I have to do this for?’ And I would think of my grandfather (who died in January 2012). When adversity hits like it did, my life became very plain, very black and white. – “It was a roller coaster, a constant struggle just to find balance through the adversity that my family went through. Te’o in the Boston Globe o n November 10. So every morning when I wake up and my girlfriend is not on the phone it reminds me that she’s gone.

Somebody told me once the hardest thing about goodbyes is when you wake up in the morning you have to say it again when you realize that they’re not there. – “There’s nothing I can say to explain it unless somebody’s been there before. The last thing she said to me was, ‘I love you.’ And that was it.” This is six hours after I just found out my grandma passed away and you take the love of my life. Sadly, it won’t happen now.”īrian Te’o told the South Bend Tribune on October 13. And we came to the realization that she could be our daughter-in-law. But within the last year, they became a couple. Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there. And I remember I asked Coach Diaco, ‘Coach, what time is it?’ And he said, ‘It’s 12:01.’ And that would be 9, 9:01, California time and 9 is when they closed the casket for my girlfriend, so I had a moment then.”

And I remember when I found out I knew when they were going to close the casket and all that stuff, and it was during the walk through. And the other hardest thing was my girlfriend’s service was the day of the Michigan game. – “That has to be the hardest thing that I’ve had to do so far to be able to operate, and to be able to try to continue with my daily routine, but knowing that I just lost two women that I truly loved. White was her favorite color, so I sent her roses and sent her two picks (interceptions) along with that.” You’ll honor me through the way you play.

– “I really wanted to see her (in the hospital), but I knew that she made me promise, ‘If anything happens to me, you’ll stay over there and you’ll play. Te’o at the news conference after the Michigan State game on September 15. It was for them, for my girl and my grandma, and for all my loved ones who have passed on. I will be honest, throughout the game you are still thinking about it, but football allows me to be in a little realm, a little world that I know. At the end of the day, families are forever and I will see them again someday. I lost a woman who I truly love, but I have my family around me and my football family.

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