Last week, the internet was captivated by an extraordinary eight-hour tale shared by Teesa, a TikToke sensation hailing from Atlanta.
The story revolves around her marriage to a man she dubs a "pathological liar" and refers to as the "United Nations of Red Flags."
The captivating saga, aptly titled "Who TF Did I Marry," spans an impressive 50 parts, each accumulating millions of views and drawing attention from notable publications like Rolling Stone, the Washington Post, and Time magazine.
In the beginning, Legion, as Teesa pseudonymously names her husband, weaved a tapestry of deceit. From falsely claiming to be a former college football player to concocting a job as a regional manager at a popular condiment company in Georgia, his fabrications knew no bounds.
Teesa, however, allowed Legion into her home just a month after meeting him.
The story took a more bizarre turn when Legion spun tales about a pre-approved $700,000 loan from Chase and promised to contribute $750,000 in cash from a non-existent offshore account for a property.
The promised Audi Q8 never materialised, and Legion went as far as lying to family members about Teesa having a son, a child she had tragically miscarried, all in the pursuit of collecting gifts.
As Teesa digs deeper, the revelations grew more shocking. Multiple ex-wives, recurrent jail stints, and the use of fake social security numbers were part of Legion's hidden past.
Teesa's decision to share her story was driven by altruism: "If just one woman watches these videos and she’s like, ‘You know what? Something don’t sit right with me. Let me look into this,’ then it was worth it."
In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Teesa underlined her desire to spark conversations about overlooked red flags in relationships. "Whether you agree with me and my decisions or not, I wanted it to create conversation about the things that we ignore because we want what we want or we’re in a hurry," she explained.
Coincidentally, a Google trends report indicated a quadrupling of searches for "pathological liar vs. compulsive" over the past week, suggesting a heightened interest in understanding deceptive behaviour.
The cautionary tale doesn't end with Teesa's personal saga which led people to explore the red flags indicating deception in a relationship.