By PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press
The man who says he tricked Notre Dame linebacker
Manti Te'o into falling for a fake woman he had created online says the
hoax had "everything to do" with escaping from real life because he had
been molested as a child.
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo spoke publicly for the first
time in an interview with Dr. Phil McGraw for the "Dr. Phil Show," the
second part of which aired Friday.
The 22-year-old Tuiasosopo told McGraw he was
repeatedly molested by a family friend beginning at age of 12.
Tuiasosopo did not identify his alleged attacker by name and did not say
whether he had told police about his claim.
He says creating the fictional persona Lennay Kekua
allowed him to live in an alternate reality, and also validated for him
that he was a good person on the inside.
Tuiasosopo also apologized to Te'o during a portion of the interview broadcast Friday.
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