You’ve probably seen her on TV, but are Manti Te’o married? What about her family and her career? Read on to find out more.
NFL career
Manti Te’o had a promising NFL career, but it was also doomed by a catfishing scandal. At Notre Dame, he was a star linebacker. He racked up 437 total tackles, including 34 tackles for loss, during his college career. However, he also got caught up in a fake love affair with a transgender woman.
The alleged catfisher, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, told Manti that his girlfriend Lennay Kekua was dead. This led to a huge backlash, and Te’o was forced to admit that he had misled reporters.
In the meantime, Manti Te’o was traded to the New Orleans Saints. It was during his time in New Orleans that he was able to establish himself as a pro player. After four seasons in the NFL, he signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Bears.
Before signing with the Bears, Te’o played for the San Diego Chargers and the Los Angeles Chargers. His contract with the Chargers was for four years, and he received a $2 million signing bonus.
Family life
Manti Te’o is a 31-year-old Samoan-Hawaiian football linebacker. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He recently joined the telehealth provider Transcend, and is currently a free agent.
In 2012, Manti Te’o was a rising star of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. At the time, he had been on campus less than two years. He was a varsity player, a good student, and a candidate for the Heisman trophy.
As an athlete, he was considered a national hero. His heartfelt backstory made him popular among the media. But, his life was not what it seemed.
It all began with a catfishing incident. The story of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, wasn’t exactly a lie. However, it was a ruse.
Manti Te’o met Kekua on Facebook. He believed he was in a long-distance relationship with a Stanford student. They became Facebook friends. The next thing he knew, Kekua was telling him she was ill and had passed away.
Marriage to fitness influencer Jovi Nicole Engbino
If you’re a fan of the NFL, you’ll probably know about Manti Te’o. He’s a Chicago Bears linebacker. And, it turns out, he’s also married to Instagram fitness influencer Jovi Nicole. They got engaged in February of 2020 and tied the knot on August of that year.
Before Jovi and Te’o got married, they had a daughter together, Hiromi. The two have been posting photos of the baby on social media. In fact, they’ve been dating for four years, but didn’t get engaged until February of 2020.
When they decided to get married, they had a small ceremony without any guests. But, a recent COVID-19 pandemic threw the plans out of whack.
However, they still decided to celebrate their marriage, and they did it on a beach. Afterward, they had a big wedding.
According to her husband, he shares some pictures of the wedding with her dad. They both have gorgeous faces. Apparently, they follow Christianity.
Before they met Manti Te’o, Jovi had been a sales support specialist for Robert Half in San Diego. She was then enrolled at Arizona State University, Tempe. Later on, she went on to study at a private high school. Eventually, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Relationship with ‘Lennay Kekua’
Manti Te’o, a rising star for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, was caught in a fake relationship with a woman named Lennay Kekua. The story has been retold in a documentary series on Netflix called Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist.
Lennay was a fictional character, whose identity was faked by a person who uses the name Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. This person has a Twitter account that is used by the Kekua persona.
When Te’o found out that Kekua was a hoax, he told his parents and school. He said that Kekua was in an accident, had leukemia and died.
But the news was bad. As it turns out, the girl didn’t die, but was alive. She was also a prostitute. Her identity has been hidden to protect her privacy.
Te’o met Kekua on Facebook in 2009, but they didn’t become serious until after her father passed away. He didn’t see her for three months after she was alleged to have died, but started taking her more seriously.