Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man behind the Manti Te'o dead girlfriend hoax, claims he was molested was a child.
Tuiasosopo, 22, told Dr. Phil McGraw that he was molested, which has something to do with why he tricked Te'o into falling for a girl that never existed. Tuiasosopo said orchestrating the hoax was a way to escape reality, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Tuiasosopo created the fake woman, Lennay Kekua, who Te'o fell for. This character that he created seemed to have a rough life as she was in a car accident that left her in a coma and then she found that she had leukemia, which led to her death. Somehow Te'o believed the whole ordeal and it turned out to be a big prank.
Tuiasosopo told Dr. Phil that he was molested by a family friend when he was about 12 years old and the abuse continued. He told Dr. Phil that he was raped repeatedly "to the point you couldn't walk."
Tuiasosopo wouldn't say who the molester was and he wouldn't say if he ever told police. He did say he was too afraid to tell his parents about the molestation though.
"I just hoped that it would go away," Tuiasosopo said, "but it didn't."
By creating the fake girlfriend of Te'o, Tuiasosopo says he was able to live an alternate life and he tried to convince himself as a good person. He felt better when he would act as the fictional Lennay Kekua.
Tuiasosopo apologized for the hoax.
"I can't express how sorry I am toward Manti and his family and everyone affected by this," Tuiasosopo told McGraw. "I can't express how sorry I am to my family, just the ones who have been there for me no matter what, and everyone who carried my last name or has been affected by the media -- I can't express how sorry I am for all of it."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
