Ronaiah Tuiasosopo says he fell deeply in love with Manti Te'o

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo said that he fell deeply in love with Manti Te'o (J. Meric/Getty Images)

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man on the phone impersonating Lennay Kekua, said he fell deeply in love with Manti Te'o over the course of their relationship but maintains the widely disputed theory that Te'o was in no way involved in the hoax that was brought to light earlier in January.

According to an interview set to air on Thursday that Tuiasosopo did with Dr. Phil McGraw, better known as "Dr. Phil," Teo and the woman he believed to be Lennay Kekua had broken up many times throughout the course of their relationship:

"There were many times when Manti and Lennay have broken up," Tuiasosopo said, "but something would bring them back together, whether it was something going on in his life or Lennay's life or in this case my life."

In a January interview with Katie Couric, Te'o was asked if he is gay, to which he responded by saying, "No, far from it. Faaaaarrrr from it." When Tuiasosopo was asked by McGraw the same question about himself in part one of the interview set to air on Thursday, Tuiasosopo gave a different answer:

"Here we have a young man that fell deeply, romantically in love," McGraw told NBC. "I asked him straight up, 'Was this a romantic relationship with you?' And he says yes. I said, 'Are you then therefore gay?' And he said, 'When you put it that way, yes.' And then he caught himself and said 'I am confused.' "