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She’s the voice behind Manti Te’o’s tragic faux-mance.
Hoax mastermind Ronaiah Tuiasosopo’s pretty young cousin played the part of “Lennay Kekua,” the fake girlfriend he created, The Post has learned.
Tino Tuiasosopo convinced the Notre Dame grid star that she was the real deal, calling him at school, telling him she loved him and even sobbing hysterically when another girl answered his phone, several of the woman’s relatives said yesterday.
“Tino is the girl that Manti has been talking to all these months,” said a Tuiasosopo cousin.
The revelation shoots down claims by Ronaiah Tuiasosopo’s attorney, Milton Grimes, that Ronaiah altered his masculine voice to play the part of the chirpy, flirty Kekua.
Grimes did not respond to calls or e-mails for comment.
One of Ronaiah’s relatives believes Grimes put out the story because the admitted hoaxer “is determined to take the rap.”
In an interview yesterday with ABC’s Katie Couric, Te’o provided voicemail messages from Lennay and insisted that he’d been duped into believing he was in a legitimate relationship.
After hearing the voicemails, one of Tino’s cousins told The Post, “There is no doubt whatsoever that it’s Tino.”
Te’o told Couric he believes the voice he heard as “Lennay” was definitely a woman. “Well, it didn’t sound like a man. It sounded like a woman,” he said.
“If he somehow made that voice, that’s incredible, that’s an incredible talent to do that. Especially every single day. “
In one voice recording, a hysterical “Lennay” accuses Te’o of having another girl in his room, saying, “I don’t know who answered your phone . . . I don’t care. [Inaudible] I’m trying. You made it clear what you want. Take care.”
One of the Tuiasosopo sources said, “That’s the way [Tino] cries when she’s feeling sorry for herself. Its her, that’s the voice.”
Tino, in her mid-20s, lives in Pago Pago, American Samoa. She works for her dad’s construction company and is described by relatives as vivacious and flirtatious, but very involved in the church. In a profile on the social networking site BEBO from 2008, she lists “acting” as a hobby.
Tino assumed her role in the Te’o ruse after she was dumped from a long-distance relationship with another man — and there were “extraordinary similarities” between the two situations, a source said.
The man broke off the relationship in late 2011.
“She said it was OK, because she was doing better. She said she was talking to another person [and] he plays football for Notre Dame — number 5, Manti,” a source recalled.
Tino couldn’t be reached for comment. Her dad, Bob, declined to talk about the situation, saying, “I don’t want to divulge anything.”