This image released by CBS Television Distribution shows Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez fiancee of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez during an interview on the "Dr. Phil" show. The two-part interview is scheduled to air on Monday and Tuesday. (CBS Television Distribution via AP)
The Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) - Former NFL player Aaron Hernandez said rumors that he was gay or bisexual were not true, his former fiancee said in an interview on the "Dr. Phil" show that aired Tuesday.
Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez made the remark during the second part of a two-part interview with host Dr. Phillip McGraw. The first part aired on Monday.
Jenkins-Hernandez said Hernandez denied the rumors during a conversation she had with him about his sexuality. She said Hernandez was "very much a man" to her and called the rumors "embarrassing" and "hurtful."
"If that was him, I wouldn't fault him for that. ... We're in 2017. There are so many people that are coming out," she said.
Jenkins-Hernandez said in the part of the interview that aired Monday that she doesn't think the former New England Patriots tight end killed himself last month, as authorities have said. She said he was upbeat in their last telephone conversation before he was found hanged and that there was no indication he was suicidal.
She said in the Tuesday segment that there was a suicide note for her and one for their daughter, but there was no note addressed to Hernandez's fellow prisoner Kyle Kennedy.
Jenkins-Hernandez also said she doesn't believe Hernandez and Kennedy were lovers or even close friends. Hernandez didn't talk about him, she said.
A lawyer for Kennedy has said Kennedy was "stunned and saddened" by Hernandez's death and that the two had requested to be cellmates last year but the request was denied. He said Kennedy considered Hernandez a close friend.
The death of Hernandez, who grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, and played football at the University of Florida, came days after he was acquitted in a 2012 Boston double slaying.
He already was in prison, serving a life sentence in the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd, the boyfriend of Jenkins-Hernandez's sister. A judge recently erased the murder conviction because Hernandez died before a ruling was issued on his appeal.
Jenkins-Hernandez said she was thrilled when the conviction was voided.
"That's how it should have always been," she said.
FILE - In this March 30, 2017, file photo, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, fiancee of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, testifies in Suffolk Superior Court during his trial for the July 2012 killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston. Hernandez hanged himself in his prison cell on April 19, days after he was acquitted of the double murder. He was still serving a life sentence for the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd. (Josh Reynolds/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this March 30, 2017, file photo, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, fiancee of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, seated at right, walks to the witness stand to testify in Suffolk Superior Court during his trial for the July 2012 killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston. Hernandez hanged himself in his prison cell on April 19, days after he was acquitted of the double murder. He was still serving a life sentence for the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd. (Josh Reynolds/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this March 30, 2017, file photo, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, fiancee of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, testifies in Suffolk Superior Court during his trial for the July 2012 killings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston. Hernandez hanged himself in his prison cell on April 19, days after he was acquitted of the double murder. He was still serving a life sentence for the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd. (Josh Reynolds/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this, March 30, 2015, file photo, Shayanna Jenkins, fiancee of former NFL football player Aaron Hernandez, uses her hands to illustrate the size of a small box as she testifies in court during Hernandez's murder trial in Fall River, Mass. Hernandez was convicted of the 2013 killing Odin Lloyd, and was found hanged in his prison cell early Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (Ted Fitzgerald/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this, April 14, 2017, file photo, Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez, center, the fiancee of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, is comforted as she reacts to Hernandez's double murder acquittal at Suffolk Superior Court Friday in Boston. Hernandez was found hanged in his prison cell on April 19, days while serving a life sentence for the 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, Pool, File)
The Associated Press