Did former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning adopt a daughter named Lily? No, that's not true: A viral Facebook post contained no more than fan fiction and images that appeared to be AI-generated. The page that published it regularly posts similar heartwarming (and fabricated) stories about Manning, along with pictures that appear AI-generated.
The story appeared in a widely-shared June 10, 2025, post on Facebook (archived here). It consisted of two photographs -- one that appeared to show Manning with a young girl, and another that appeared to show him with a teenage girl -- along with this long block of text:
Peyton Manning Adopted Her at 8--10 Years Later, She Stood Beside Him With a Truth No One Knew
At 8 years old, Lily had already learned too much about loss.
Her parents had died in a car accident. She bounced from home to home--never staying long enough to unpack all her things.
She stopped asking questions.
Stopped hoping.
Until one day, a man walked into the group home--not in a suit, not with cameras.
Just jeans, a soft smile, and kind eyes.
It was Peyton Manning.
She didn't know who he was.
He introduced himself simply:
"Hi, I'm Peyton. And I heard you love football and pancakes."
She blinked. Nodded slowly.
He knelt down to her level.
"Would it be okay if I came by again? Maybe next Sunday?"
He did.
Then the Sunday after that.
Then one day--he didn't just visit.
He brought papers.
And asked:
"Would it be okay if I became your dad?"
Lily was stunned. Scared. But somehow... safe.
Over the next decade, she didn't grow up in stadium lights--she grew up in backyards.
With waffles on Saturdays.
Study sessions.
Bike rides.
Bedtime pep talks.
She got the full Peyton Manning experience.
Not the quarterback.
But the man.
He never asked her to be anyone but herself.
He never introduced her to the world as "his adopted daughter."
Only:
"This is Lily. My girl."
Ten years later--Lily stood beside him at a charity event.
Now 18. Beautiful. Fierce. Proud.
Someone in the crowd shouted, "You're lucky to be raised by a legend!"
She smiled.
Then leaned into the mic:
"He's not the legend because he played football.
He's a legend because when no one else chose me--he did.
And he never once made me feel like second choice."
Peyton looked down, eyes full.
Because even after all the touchdowns...
That?
That was the biggest win of his life.
This is what it looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot)
The story was made up, and the pictures were fake -- most likely the product of generative AI.
Manning and his wife Ashley have exactly two children, twin brother and sister Marshall and Mosley, who were born in March 2011. Despite the viral Facebook's claim that Manning and "Lily" spoke together at a public charity event, we found no record whatsoever of any such event.
In light of Manning's enduring celebrity of more than 25 years standing, the disclosure of an adopted daughter and a public speech at a public event, with her, would undoubtedly have formed the basis of widespread news coverage, if any of it had been real.
A Google News search for the words "Peyton Manning" and "adopted daughter" yielded no results, underlining the fictional nature of the "Lily" story.
Given that "Lily" doesn't exist, the photos supposedly showing her with Manning were therefore fake, and most likely created using generative AI.
Finally, the page that published this viral story on June 10, "Magic Clement", routinely posts similar fake Peyton Manning-related stories, all of them illustrated with AI images.
For example, one post purported to tell the story of how Manning visited an elderly couple who were celebrating their wedding anniversary by, for some unexplained reason, singing "Happy Birthday" together. The vignette was illustrated with a clearly AI-generated image of a banner that read "HAPPY ANNIESARY" and the couple wearing party hats that read "HAPPY BIRTRIVX" and "HAPPY ANYBRDIMPY" -- logical and visual glitches that are the hallmarks of AI-generated content:
(Source: Facebook screenshot)
