The publicity train for all sides of the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax is making a stop with Dr. Phil this week, with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo revealing more details to host Dr. Phil McGraw.
"Here we have a young man that fell deeply, romantically in love," McGraw told NBC's Mike Taibbi. "I asked him straight up, 'Was this a romantic relationship with you?' And he says yes. I said, 'Are you then therefore gay?' And he said, 'When you put it that way, yes.' And then he caught himself and said, 'I am confused.'"
The two-part interview will air Thursday and Friday on McGraw's nationally syndicated show, Dr. Phil. NBC reports that in the interview, Tuiasosopo claims that Te'o was the innocent victim of his elaborate hoax, as the mastermind used the relationship to satisfy his own emotional needs. Tuiasosopo specifically said the Notre Dame linebacker was "absolutely, unequivocally" not involved in the execution of the hoax in any way.
"I wanted to end it because, after everything I had gone through, I finally realized that I just had to move on with my life," Tuiasosopo told McGraw. "I had to start just living and let this go. There were many times where Manti and Lennay had broken up, but something would bring them back together whether it was something going on in his life or in Lennay's life, or in this case, my life."
Te'o told Katie Couric that he was told about the hoax on Dec. 6 but chose to wait to discuss it until after the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 7 out of embarrassment. The Heisman Trophy runner-up finally addressed the hoax after Deadspin reported the story on Jan. 16.
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