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(CNN) -- Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o said Wednesday he was the victim of a "sick joke" that resulted in the creation of an inspirational story that had him overcoming the deaths of his grandmother and girlfriend as the team marched toward the BCS National Championship Game.

Te'o released a statement and Notre Dame held a news conference Wednesday night after the sports website Deadspin published an article that called the girlfriend story a "hoax" and raised questions about whether she ever existed.

Last September and October, Te'o told interviewers the losses of the women, who reportedly died within hours of each other, inspired him to honor them with sterling play on the field.

"I miss 'em, but I know that I'll see them again one day," he told ESPN.

That and other media reports led to a gripping human interest story of determination.

Jack Swarbrick, director of athletics at Notre Dame, told reporters that Te'o was the victim of an elaborate hoax. "And he will carry that with him for a while," Swarbrick said.

Notre Dame said the relationship was exclusively online.

According to Swarbrick, on December 26, Te'o called his coaches and said he received a phone call and heard a voice he thought was his girlfriend's, telling him she was not dead.

Te'o's grandmother did die in September, according to Deadspin, but there is no Social Security Administration record of the death of the athlete's supposed girlfriend, described as a Stanford University student named Lennay Kekua. Stanford University told CNN that it has never had a student registered by that name.

"Outside of a few Twitter and Instagram accounts, there's no online evidence that Lennay Kekua ever existed," Deadspin contends.

After Notre Dame upset No. 10 Michigan State on September 15, Te'o told ABC about his grandmother and girlfriend.

"They were with me. I couldn't do it without them," Te'o said. "I couldn't do it without the support of my family and my girlfriend's family."

"I'm so happy that I had a chance to honor my grandma and my family and my girlfriend," he said. "That's what it's all about, family."

Timothy Burke, co-author of the Deadspin article, told Miami sports radio host Dan Le Batard, "We got an e-mail last week saying something isn't right" with the girlfriend story.

Te'o, the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, said Wednesday he "developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her."

In his statement reported by ESPN, the star said, "To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.

"It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life."

Notre Dame said it has hired an independent investigative firm to look into the situation.

CNN's Steve Almasy contributed to this report.