Manti Te'o's Catfisher Now Identifies As Transgender Woman, Details Scheme In Netflix Series

"Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist," a two-part documentary series about the big catfishing hoax involving former football star Manti Te'o, revealed that the mastermind behind the scheme now identifies as a transgender woman.

Ronaiah "Naya" Tuiasosopo, the catfish mastermind who hid behind the name Lennay Kekua, shared in the documentary that she's a transgender woman, the New York Post reported. In the official trailer released last month, a scene showed Tuiasosopo wearing an all-black top while having long hair.

According to the executive producers Chapman Way and Maclain Way, they tracked down Tuiasosopo through the social media platform Instagram and reached out to her about the "Untold" show.

"One day we found Naya. Then we reached out and told her a little bit about our show 'Untold,'" Chapman said in an exclusive interview with the outlet.

He continued, "We got Naya on the phone, and she was incredibly raw and open and vulnerable about this whole journey. She's been going over [it] the last couple of years [during the making of 'Untold,'] and talking to her, we realized, like, man, there's probably a really incredible story here that goes beyond the headlines."

While the plot of the documentary series would revolve around the truth of the scheme that happened over a decade ago, the show would also provide a "deeper look" into Tuiasosopo's motive during the infamous hoax.

Maclain said they believed there was more context to Tuiasosopo's actions, and "a lot more meaning behind them," so they decided to also focus on her side of the story unlike the usual catfishing shows that only portrayed the victim's experience.

"I think the one thing that was really fascinating was a lot of catfishing shows usually focus on the victim of what's happened. And I think talking to Naya and trying to find out, like, what drove her to this, was a really fascinating conversation on her search for identity. And I think that's something really unique that hasn't really been explored before," Maclain shared.

The executive producers noted that Tuiasosopo was very much open in discussing the "inner workings" of the catfishing scheme as their interviews took long hours.

The long-form interviews also served as a venue for the 31-year-old linebacker and Tuiasosopo to share their story. They also revealed that both parties seemed unsatisfied with how the media handled the controversy.

During the production, Te'o and Tuiasosopo reportedly agreed to conduct the interviews separately since they hadn't been in contact with each other following the scandal. But despite that, the executive producers observed that they did not have "bad blood" between them and were still "working through" how the whole scandal transpired and "how it affected them individually."

"Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist" premieres on Aug. 16 on Netflix. The subsequent installments of the "Untold" series, including "The Rise and Fall of AND1," "Operation Flagrant Foul" and "Race of the Century," will release on Aug. 23, Aug. 30, and Sept.6, respectively.