Te'o was a beloved all-around star in high school and was on track to receive a full football scholarship to Notre Dame. Known as the golden boy in his Hawaiian hometown, he was active in his faith.
Tragically, tragedy struck. He lost his grandma, then his girlfriend. On the same day.
The only difference is that his girlfriend didn't actually die. The media discovered that his girlfriend did not even exist.
Ronaiah 'Naya' Tuiasosopo, the woman behind the hoax, was caught in the middle of the scam all along.
A new Netflix documentary, "Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist," focusing on Te'o, Tuiasosopo, and the elaborate 2013 hoax, comes out Tuesday.
Unlike Te'o's story of his fake girlfriend, Tuiasosopo's story of creating a fictional girlfriend to cope with her own gender dysphoria is less well known. Tuiasosopo has since come out as transgender
Although audiences may recognize Te'o's name first, the documentary opens with Tuiasosopo. Throughout the two episodes, she explores self-discovery and gender identity partly through catfishing Te'o.
Maclain Way, who created the "Untold" series with his brother Chapman, spoke with CNN about how the team approached portraying Tuiasosopo's and Te'o's journeys as synchronous and separate.
The length and clarity of this conversation have been edited in order to make it more concise.......