Kyle Kennedy’s attorney has responded to reports that his client was involved in a close, possibly romantic relationship with Aaron Hernandez at the time of the former NFL star’s apparent suicide last Wednesday.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Attorney Lawrence F. Army, Jr., declined to specify the precise nature of Kennedy and Hernandez’s relationship, but did confirm that the two were close and said knew each other before they were each incarcerated at Souza-Baranowski Correction Center in Shirley, Massachusetts.

According to MassLive, Army said at the news conference Hernandez told Kennedy that he was thinking of taking his own life three weeks before he hung himself in his jail cell. But it appears that Kennedy did not take those threats seriously.

Kennedy reportedly told his laywer that Hernandez said, “I think I’m going to hang it up” three weeks before his death. Apparently not believing that he truly intended to take his own life, the attorney said Kennedy was “stunned and saddened” by Hernandez’s death.

“He thought it was a joke,” the attorney said.  “He thought the people in the jail were playing a game because they knew the closeness of the two.”

Army also said that his client believes Hernandez left him a suicide note — but he has not seen it and doesn’t know what it says:

My client does firmly believe that one of the letters was written to him, coming from his own knowledge of the relationship he and Hernandez shared, and because someone at the jail indicated one of the letters was to him,” Army said.

The lawyer additionally revealed that Hernandez had reportedly promised to give Kennedy a high-end, custom-made watch.

“My client was told by Aaron Hernandez, prior to his death, that he was going to be the recipient of an approximately $50,000 watch that Mr. Hernandez had left to my client,” Army said, according to MassLive.

On Monday, a judge ordered the Worcester District Attorney’s office to release all three suicide notes reportedly found with Hernandez to his family. Army said in the news conference that he has attempted to obtain a copy of the suicide notes himself, but has not yet received a response from Hernandez’s attorney Jose Baez, who has publicly denied reports that Hernandez left a suicide note to a prison lover.

Army said in the news conference that Kennedy will address personally the specifics of his relationship with Hernandez at a future date.

Photo: Associated Press/Facebook