The woman who falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her in 2006 – which made national headlines and raised tensions over race, class and the privileges of college athletes – has publicly admitted for the first time that she did invented history.

Crystal Mangum, a Black woman, said in an interview on the “Let’s Talk With Kat” podcast that she “made up a story that wasn’t true” about the white players who attended a party where she was hired as a stripper became. because I wanted validation from men and not from God.”

“I testified falsely against them by saying that they had raped me when they hadn’t, and that was false,” Mangum, 46, said in the interview published Monday. The interview was recorded last month at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, where Mangum is incarcerated for fatally stabbing her boyfriend in 2011.

The former Duke players were declared innocent in 2007 after Mangum’s story fell apart under legal review.

The attorney general’s office concluded there was no credible evidence that an attack ever occurred, and its investigation did not produce any DNA, witnesses or other evidence that could corroborate Mangum’s story.

The Durham prosecutor who fought Mangum’s case was disbarred for lying and misconduct. Prosecutors at the time declined to file charges against Mangum on the false allegations.

The former lacrosse players reached an undisclosed settlement with Duke University in 2007 after suing it over its handling of the rape allegations.

Mangum, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2013 and is eligible for release from prison as early as 2026, told the podcast interviewer she hopes the three wrongly accused men can forgive her.

“I want them to know that I love them and that they don’t deserve this,” she said.

Durham-based podcaster Kat DePasquale said she wrote to Mangum because she was curious about the case that was getting so much attention, and Mangum wrote back saying she wanted to talk.