Face of Te’o’s ‘girlfriend’ says prankster confessed, said he wanted to end hoax

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This image released by NBC shows Diane O\' Meara on NBC News\' "Today" show, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 in New York. O\'Meara told NBC\'s "Today" show that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo used pictures of her without her knowledge in creating a fake woman called Lennay Kekua, who was Notre Dame football player Manti Te\'o\'s supposed girlfriend. O\'Meara said she had never had any contact with Te\'o. (AP Photo/NBC, Peter Kramer)

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The woman who was unknowingly the face of Lennay Kekua says the man who allegedly concocted the hoax confessed to her and said he wanted to end the ruse that had snared Notre Dame star Manti Te’o many times before it unravelled.

Diane O’Meara is the woman whose pictures were used to make an online profile of Kekua, the fake person who Te’o says he fell for online. O’Meara says Ronaiah Tuiasosopo told her that he wanted to end the hoax before Kekua “died” in September, but Te’o wanted the relationship with Keuka to continue.

O’Meara spoke with The Associated Press by phone on Thursday. O’Meara says Tuiasosopo confessed to her that he’d stolen photos from her Facebook profile to create Kekua.

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