In an interview on a web show published last week, Mangum apologised to the men and said her relationship with God has made her understand why she fabricated the story. Mangum is serving time in prison on a second-degree murder conviction for killing her boyfriend.

The timeline of the North Carolina case begins in 2006, when Mangum said she was trapped, sexually assaulted and raped by David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann at a team party where she was performing as an exotic dancer.

The men were arrested following her allegations.

“I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t, and that was wrong. And I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me,” Mangum said on Katerena DePasquale’s show, ‘Let’s Talk With Kat.’

“I made up a story that wasn’t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God.”

For more than a year, the school and the lacrosse players were thrust into a media frenzy, subjected to intense public scrutiny and damaging allegations of sexual assault that were ultimately dropped. After Mangum’s confession, Duke told CNN it would not comment. The former players did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. —CNN