Diane O'Meara, Mistaken For Manti Te’o's Fake Girlfriend "Lennay Kekua," Speaks Out

Diane O'Meara, who the nation grew to know as the face of Lennay Kekua, the fictional girlfriend of Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te’o, has opened up about her side of the story.

“I’ve never met Manti Te’o in my entire life,” O’Meara, 23, said in an interview with TODAY. “I’ve never spoken with him. I’ve never exchanged words, Tweets.” These revelations come in the midst of the elaborate hoax in which Te’o traded more than 1,000 phone calls (of more than 500 total hours) with a woman he believed to be “Lennay Kekua,” ESPN reports.

The man behind the hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, went to high school with O’Meara, however, they were not good friends by any means. Tuiasosopo apparently called and apologized the day the story was leaked by the website Deadspin, however it didn't do much to help matters. “I don’t think there is anything you can say to me that would fix this,” O'Meara said.

In a more extensive sitdown with Today on Wednesday, O'Meara added that the ordeal was especially troubling for her because she has been in her own five-year relationship with her real boyfriend. Additionally, O'Meara explained that she agreed to send Tuiasosopo a photo of herself out of sympathy because Tuisasosopo had been repeatedly contacting her to contribute to a photo slideshow following a traumatic car accident. This photo, which featured O'Meara holding a sign up to a mirror with the words MSMK, would go on to become one of the main identifying factors of "Lennay Kekua."

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Te’o first opened up about the ordeal with Jeremy Schapp of ESPN, and Te'o will appear with his family on Katie Couric's ABC daytime show Katie on Thursday. Thus far Tuiasosopo has remained out of the public eye.

—Hal Sundt

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