Diane O'Meara, Woman in Manti Te'o Fake Girlfriend Photo, Breaks Silence Amid 'Confusing Situation' (Video)

Diane O’Meara, Woman in Manti Te’o Fake Girlfriend Photo, Breaks Silence Amid ‘Confusing Situation’ (Video)

by Ricky Doyle on Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 10:22AM

Manti Te’o might have thought he had fallen in love with a woman named “Lennay Kekua.” But the face he allegedly came to know as his girlfriend’s instead belongs to Diane O’Meara.

O’Meara, whose photo was used as the face of “Kekua,” spoke out Tuesday for the first time since Deadspin broke the news of the Te’o hoax on Jan. 16. She said that the photos were used without her knowledge, and that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo confessed and apologized to her for using the photos.

O’Meara said that she attended high school with Tuiasosopo, the man allegedly behind the Te’o hoax, but that the two were not close. She also revealed that she has never come in contact with Te’o in her life, and that Tuiasosopo has literally been “stalking” her Facebook for five years by carrying out this scam.

“I don’t think there’s anything [Tuiasosopo] could say to me that would fix this,” O’Meara, 23, said.

Tuiasosopo hasn’t spoken since the story broke, and Te’o maintains that he was duped into believing he was carrying out an online relationship with “Lennay Kekua” and that she died of leukemia in September.

Check out O’Meara’s interview on NBC’s Today in the video below.

Check out a photo gallery of people ‘Te’oing’ by clicking here>>

Photo of the Day

This is exactly how a lot of Celtics fans are feeling right now.

Quote of the Day

“Any suggestion that I would undermine the integrity of the sport that I love and dedicated my life to, or dishonor the commitment I made to our players, coaches and fans is flat-out wrong.”
–Former Raiders coach Bill Callahan, who totally doesn’t like the allegations made by Tim Brown and Jerry Rice.