The nation will hear Manti Te’o discuss the fake girlfriend hoax for the first time Thursday afternoon when ABC airs Katie Couric’s interview with the Notre Dame linebacker.
The Heisman Trophy runner-up had previously said he had an online romance with a woman he never met and in September was informed that the woman died from leukemia — the same day his grandmother died. The story was widely reported and helped propel Te’o into the national spotlight.
The story was revealed to be a hoax earlier this month, although Te’o learned the truth in early December.
Snippets of the the interview have been released by ABC or leaked by other news sources.
Among the things Te’o will say:
— He lied to the media and the public after discovering his online girlfriend did not exist:
“Katie, put yourself in my situation. I, my whole world told me that she died on Sept. 12. Everybody knew that. This girl, who I committed myself to, died on Sept. 12. Now I get a phone call on Dec. 6, saying that she’s alive and then I’m going be put on national TV two days later. And to ask me about the same question. You know, what would you do?”
— That even though the girlfriend was not real, the emotions he felt were:
“What I went through was real. You know the feelings, the pain, the sorrow, that was all real and that’s something that I can’t fake,” he said.
— He denied that he reveled in the attention he received before the story was revealed to be false:
“I think for me the only thing I basked in was that I had an impact on people, that people turned to me and for inspiration and I think that was the only thing I focused on. You know my story I felt was a guy who in times of hardship and in times of trial really held strong to his faith, held strong to his family and I felt that that was my story.”
Atlantans can watch the full interview at 3 p.m. on WSB-TV, Channel 2.
