ABC(NEW YORK ) — The fiancee of the late Aaron Hernandez is speaking out for the first time since the release of a Netflix new docuseries on the life of the football-star turned-convicted killer, including rumors about his sexuality.
In a sit-down interview with ABC News’ Amy Robach that will air Wednesday on “Good Morning America,” Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez said that while Hernandez did not express to her in any way he may have been gay or bisexual, if he did, she “would not have loved him any differently.”
Hernandez, a former New England Patriots tight end, was found guilty of murder in April 2015 for the killing of Odin Lloyd, the 27-year-old fiance of Jenkins-Hernandez’ sister, who was found shot to death in a suburb of Boston about two years earlier. After Hernandez’s trial, and prior to his suicide in his prison cell in 2017, his alleged relationships with men became a topic of discussion.
The Netflix docuseries “Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez,” which was released in January, spoke to a high school teammate and friend of Hernandez, Dennis Sansoucie, who said the two engaged in a sexual relationship while in high school.
Jenkins-Hernandez said that she knew of Sansoucie, but doesn’t know him well and he wasn’t very involved in Hernandez’s adult life.
However, she said through tears, “you start to feel for people that may be hiding inside how they really feel. And I– I feel awful for that.”
Jenkins-Hernandez, who was engaged to Hernandez at the time of his suicide and shares a daughter with him, said he was “certainly a man to me. There was no behavior that made me think differently.”
She wishes that if Hernandez had been hiding his sexuality, he would have come to her.
“I would not have loved him any differently. I would’ve understood,” Jenkins-Hernandez said. “Yes, of course, it would’ve been hard to watch somebody walk away or to live a different life. But it’s not shameful.”
“I think it’s a beautiful thing,” she added. “I just– I wish I was able to tell him that.”
Watch the interview on Wednesday at 7 a.m. ET on “Good Morning America.”
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