Aaron Hernandez’s fiancee Shayanna Jenkins broke her silence about the former NFL star’s suicide in an interview on the Dr. Phil show.
In the first of a two-part segment, Jenkins addressed some of the rumors surrounding Hernandez’s sexuality and said she was still struggling to come to terms with his death — as he gave her no indication that he was planning on taking his own life.
Hernandez was found dead by hanging in his prison cell on April 19, just a few days after he was found not guilty of a double murder. He had been serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.
After his death, multiple reports surfaced that Hernandez was in a romantic relationship with a fellow inmate, and that he addressed one of his three suicide notes to him.
Jenkins told Dr. Phil that Hernandez left one note to her, another to his daughter, and a third to his lawyer — as Hernandez defense attorney said last month.
Jenkins also said she did not believe Hernandez was gay or bisexual, and did not believe that he was worried about any revelations regarding his sexual preferences.
“I had no indication or any feeling that he was such,” Hernandez told Dr. Phil.
“He was very much a man to me. I don’t know where this came from. It’s embarrassing, in a sense. It’s hurtful, regardless if it’s true or not. It’s just not something that I saw. It’s not something that I believe. It’s just not him.”
Jenkins also shared her doubts and disbelief that Hernandez would have taken his own life.
“I don’t think this was a suicide,” she told Dr. Phil, despite the medical examiner’s ruling and the fact that the death investigation has been closed.
She said that when she and her daughter spoke to Hernandez the night before he died, he told their four-year-old daughter, “Daddy’s going to be home.”
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