Aaron Hernandez asked prison officials if he could share his cell with his jailhouse lover because he was lonely and craved male companionship.
"Hernandez had requested to the prison that my client, Kyle Kennedy be his cellmate," Kennedy's attorney Larry Army, Jr. told DailyMail.com.
Army said Kennedy was "open to the idea" of bunking with Hernandez.
But officials at the maximum security Souza-Baranowski prison in Shirley, Massachusetts turned down Hernandez's request, according to Army.
Hernandez was housed in a large double cell designed for two or more inmates. So there was plenty of room for a cellmate.
Hernandez, 27, hanged himself with a bedsheet on April 19. He was alone and naked in his cell when he took his own life, according to prison officials.
The former New England Patriots tight end was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the shooting death of his friend Odin Lloyd in 2013.
Kennedy, 22, is serving 3-5 years for robbing a gas station with a machete type knife in Massachusetts in 2015.
Army said Kennedy was taken off 24-hour suicide watch 6 days after Hernandez died.
"My client is obviously saddened by the loss of his friend, Aaron Hernandez," said Army.
Hernandez left three suicide notes, including one addressed to Kennedy.
Army said Kennedy has not seen the contents of the letter.
"Neither I, nor my client, have seen the letter," Army said. "We will be requesting that the letter be turned over to my client as soon as possible."
Hernandez's family and friends attended his invitation-only funeral on Tuesday in his hometown of Bristol, Conn. He was cremated after the service.