Johnny Manziel’s ‘stalker hell’: How one photo with a superfan has led to years of misery, a paternity claim and fears for his family’s safety

Johnny Manziel has lifted the lid on what he describes as years of hell at the hands of an alleged stalker who claims to have a child with the college football legend and has even spread wild conspiracy theories about him involving Donald Trump, assassination attempts and the Israeli secret service – which he says is all false.

Manziel was one of America’s biggest stars during an incredible college career at Texas A&M. He became known as ‘Johnny Football’ en route to winning the Heisman Trophy and joining the NFL.

Manziel is now 33 and host of the Glory Daze podcast. The quarterback left Texas A&M in 2014 but more than a decade on, he told the Daily Mail he continues to pay the price for taking a photo with Aggies fan MaKenzie Calame as a teenager.

‘About three or four months ago,’ Manziel explained, ‘I was asking my mom and dad: “Will you guys help me with this?”‘

But he said that the situation has become so grave, so ‘unacceptable,’ that he has now filed a temporary restraining order against her. ‘It is causing unbelievable problems in my life,’ he said. ‘It’s a sickness.’

In court documents filed on Friday, and seen by the Daily Mail, Manziel alleges ‘obsessive, erratic, and harassing hallucinations and conspiracies directed at/or relating to [him] across multiple social media platforms’. 

Manziel claims never to have spoken to Calame, a 32-year-old mother of two who – records show – lives in College Station, the home of Texas A&M. ‘That picture… when I was 18-19 years old,’ he said, ‘is the only brief instance that I’ve ever even been in the same vicinity – that I know of – with this individual.’

And yet across social media accounts – on Instagram and TikTok – Calame posts a relentless stream of videos about the college football star. On one account alone, more than 30 have appeared in the past 24 hours.

Her posts include alleged text conversations between the pair. And among her claims are that Manziel works ‘undercover’ for Trump and is, in fact, distant cousins with the president. Manziel denies the claims.

She also recently alleged the 33-year-old survived an assassination attempt ‘overseen’ by his friend Mike Majlak – all of which Manziel says is false – in part because the college football legend did not take part in a threesome. Her extensive theory, outlined on Instagram, also appears to involve Mossad and Iranian surveillance.

Manziel told the Daily Mail: ‘I didn’t start seeing TikToks or Instagrams or getting tagged in anything from this girl until about four or five years ago.’

At the time, the 33-year-old said, he blocked the accounts and carried on with his life. ‘I have enough truth and fiction said about me on a daily basis,’ he added. Manziel said he would receive private messages from time to time, too.

‘But it wasn’t anything too serious,’ he said. ‘It just looked like crazy talk… I continued to ignore it and then over the last year to two years, it’s started to get more frequent.

‘And over the last three months, it has really ramped up to a place of fear for me. It’s scaring me… [and] people in my family are really upset.’ Particularly his father. ‘It’s sad,’ he said.

‘Even my girl,’ Manziel added. ‘She’s on her TikTok at night, and this pops up… I hope things work out in the best of ways.’ But at this point, he and his loved ones are ‘fearful’.

Late last year, Manziel said, he received an email from child services in Texas that implied he had a child he never knew about. The 33-year-old said he offered to take a paternity test and inquired about the baby’s mother.

‘[They] told me the girl’s name was MaKenzie Calame,’ Manziel said. So he replied: ‘There’s no possibility of this child being mine.’ As Manziel told the Daily Mail: ‘The child is actually African-American and I’m not.’ Nor is Calame and pictures online appear to support his observation about her son.

‘I continued to let it go… and just ignore it,’ the ex-quarterback said. ‘And hope it doesn’t get worse.’

But the issue ratcheted up another notch earlier this month, when Calame contacted virtually ‘anybody I’ve done a business deal with or in life,’ Manziel said. Including his ex-wife. Now he is concerned what might happen if ‘obsessiveness shifts to anger.’

‘I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder,’ he said. ‘Does it get to a point where – I don’t know – she’s violent?’

Manziel recently retained a lawyer and spoke with College Station police. On Friday a temporary restraining order was granted against Calame, with the court finding that the ex-football star ‘faces probable, imminent and irreparable injury’ without it.

As he awaits a more permanent solution, he wants to set the record straight. ‘It just got to the point of frustration… where I have no idea but to take matters into my own hands,’ he said. Manziel he wants to ‘give people the truth.’

His football career was dogged by off-field controversy and the retired quarterback has been open about his own struggles with mental health. He battled alcohol and drug abuse and was previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Manziel has also revealed how he once tried to take his own life, only for the gun to malfunction.

So, the 33-year-old said, he is not driven by anger or any desire for revenge. He would rather Calame is helped than punished. As he recently told her family: ‘I don’t have any malicious intent in my heart for this.’

Manziel received an email from Calame’s aunt, seen by the Daily Mail, who admitted the family was ‘very concerned’ by her niece’s antics. They spoke again recently, the ex-quarterback said.

He was told that around the last presidential election, Calame joined chatrooms and learned skills including ‘stitching videos together.’ 

A recent video on her TikTok – entitled ‘The Cold War: Texas Mom Gone Rogue… My Story’ does show Calame repeating claims of election fraud.

Manziel said he told her family: ‘I’m a person that’s dealt with mental health struggles… and I realized that no matter where your mental [state] may be, there are people out there that can help you.’ He offered to do his bit.

‘I don’t think her children or anybody should be allowed to grow up in this environment. I can’t imagine the trickle-down effect of trauma and everything that comes with that.’

Manziel is also taking steps to shield himself. ‘First and foremost, I have to take care of myself,’ he said. ‘I’ve spoken to the most important people in my life, who I like to call the pillars of my life.’

They include former coaches and advisors and a therapist who he chats with three times a week – ‘people that have helped me with my mental health… to make sure that I’m not letting this stress me out too much.’

He wants to be able to carry on with life, ‘while also having care and concern about another individual’s well-being.’ He plans to talk to Calame’s family one more time and then put his faith in the justice system.

‘I’m very polarizing – I’m very loved, I’m very hated,’ Manziel said. ‘Throughout the years of me getting my mental [health] to a place where I’m able to hold my head high about what I’ve done – through the good, the bad in my life – I realized that I very much am human… I very much am far from flawless.’

He said he has discovered a new purpose. ‘Maybe I’m put on this earth not to win a Super Bowl and play football for 15 years… maybe I’m put on this earth to help people,’ Manziel continued. Giving back, he added, ‘that’s what our Aggie honor code is.’

But here, he knows there is only so much he can do. ‘I hope she gets help, I hope that her kids are in a safe place, and I hope that her family is able to somehow find stability… I hear the fear and the worry in their voices when they’re speaking to me,’ Manziel continued.

‘And as much as I want to help, it’s not my place. I have too many other things going on in my life… to really put my time and my effort into this. It’s already taken enough of my time.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to Calame for comment on the allegations made against her.