BOSTON (AP) — The fiancee of former NFL star Aaron Hernandez spoke publicly for the first time since the release of a documentary series examining his life more than two years after he killed himself in his prison cell.
Hernandez’s fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins, said she was unaware that the late New England Patriots tight end was bisexual in an interview with “Good Morning America” Wednesday morning. Jenkins said she “would not have loved him differently” if he had told her.
“Although I have a child with Aaron, I still can’t tell you how he was feeling inside,” Jenkins said. “No one can.”
Hernandez killed himself in 2017 while serving a life sentenced for murdering his friend, Odin Lloyd, in 2013. He had been acquitted of most charges in a separate double murder case just a few days before his death.
After his death, doctors found Hernandez had advanced chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease linked to head trauma.
CTE, which can be diagnosed only after death, has been found in more than 100 former NFL players and in dozens more athletes and members of the military who have been exposed to repetitive head trauma. The disease can lead to memory loss, depression and even suicide.
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