Sumith Prasad
The first two episodes of FX’s crime drama series ‘American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez’ follow the secretive relationship between Aaron Hernandez and his high school teammate, Dennis SanSoucie. Their companionship grows beyond the football pitch as they share intimacy without letting anyone know. Despite having sex with SanSoucie, Aaron fails to accept their togetherness, which increases the distance between them. After he joins the University of Florida, he learns that his companion will become a Marine. In reality, SanSoucie seemingly had a significant presence in the late footballer’s life while he was in his hometown of Bristol, Connecticut.
Dennis SanSoucie and Aaron Hernandez’s Alleged Relationship Lasted Years
Aaron Hernandez and Dennis SanSoucie had been familiar with each other since they were kids. The latter’s father, Tim SanSoucie, was the former’s youth tackle football coach. “When I met Aaron, it was like meeting your twin brother. It was so funny; we were both the same. He has dimples; we’re both ‘cheesy smile,’ all happy. He used to be able to make everyone laugh,” he recollected about his former teammate, as per Netflix’s ‘Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez.’ According to SanSoucie, the two boys started nurturing an on-and-off sexual relationship when they were in the 7th grade, and it lasted until the junior year of high school.
“Me and Aaron experimented. If I look at it now, yes, we were in a relationship back then,” SanSoucie added. Even though their companionship lasted for years, he said they wanted it to remain a secret. While appearing in the Netflix series, he revealed that Aaron was “terrified” about the possibility of his father, Dennis Hernandez, discovering that he was gay. Since their community in Bristol, Connecticut, was traditional, they didn’t have the opportunity to come out as two boys in a relationship. “Me and him were very much into trying to hide what we were doing. We didn’t want people to know,” SanSoucie told The Boston Globe.
According to The Boston Globe’s Spotlight feature “Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.,” the source material of ‘American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez,’ SanSoucie and Aaron formed an impressive partnership on the football pitch, describing them as “one of the most prolific passing tandems in [Connecticut].” They completed nine touchdowns in the first four games of the junior high, with SanSoucie reportedly aiding his friend as a quarterback. According to him, they also smoked a lot of marijuana together during their high school period.
Dennis SanSoucie Came Out as a Queer Person in 2017
Dennis SanSoucie was also in “denial” about his sexual orientation since he was an athlete. “I was in such denial… because I was an athlete. ‘You mean to tell me that the quarterback and the tight end was gay? He sleeps with other men?’ No, it doesn’t sit right with people. It doesn’t sit right within our own stomachs at that time,” he said in the same interview featured on ‘Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez.’ After their school education, Aaron Hernandez joined the University of Florida in 2007 and played football for the Florida Gators. Meanwhile, SanSoucie joined the Marine Corps.
In January 2011, SanSoucie married Whitney Gayle Freeland. “Today, 1/1/11, I am celebrating the best day of my life with my family and friends, marrying Dennis SanSoucie, the love of my life and the man of my dreams… I pray that all women find a man who is so loving, so funny, so unbelievably perfect as he is for me, to spend their happily ever after with, like us and our fairy tale. Dennis, you are my soul mate, my best friend, and my everything,” Freeland shared at the time. However, it appears that they are no longer married. Her current relationship status is single, indicating that the couple had been broken up.
SanSoucie came out as a queer person to his family and friends in his late 20s, specifically after Hernandez killed himself in prison while serving a life sentence for the murder of Odin Lloyd. He believes that his late companion would have been proud of him for coming out and publicly accepting their relationship. “I really truly feel in my heart I got the thumbs-up from [Aaron],” he told The Boston Globe. Aaron’s sexuality and SanSoucie’s involvement in the former’s life was a surprise for the latter’s father, Tim. “Little did he [Tim] know that I was part of it, so it was very hard… Aaron had killed himself, and it wasn’t something that I could just come clean on,” he added in ‘Killer Inside.’
Dennis SanSoucie Had to Deal With an Intense Hate Campaign Against Him
Dennis SanSoucie revealed about his relationship with Aaron Hernandez in The Boston Globe’s feature in 2018. At the time, he was living in Las Vegas. Netflix released ‘Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez’ in 2020, with interviews conducted with him and his father, Tim. Since then, SanSoucie has been the target of a hate campaign. Several viewers of the documentary expressed their doubts regarding the authenticity of his words about his relationship with Aaron. Many alleged that his account was a fictional story he conceived to gain fame and money, especially because the late NFL player was not “here to defend himself.”
On social media platforms, fake accounts were created in SanSoucie and Tim’s names. These accounts uploaded their personal images to tarnish their reputation. A particular user even posted what appears to be one of their phone numbers, seemingly so that others could verbally attack him over calls. Since SanSoucie is listed as a running back and linebacker on MaxPreps, viewers of the documentary series questioned his claim that he was a quarterback who formed a partnership with Aaron, who was a tight end.
His high school statistics were spread across social media platforms to debunk his claim that he was one of the best players on his team. Likely because of the cyber-attack on him, SanSoucie is no longer active on social media. He has also chosen to keep his relationship status and professional life private. Since the release of ‘American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez’ has reignited the hate campaign against him, SanSoucie may choose not to share his life with the public in the near future.
Read More: Dennis Hernandez: How Did Aaron Hernandez’s Dad Die?
