When courtroom television first aired the Menendez case in 1993, the trial took America by storm. Now Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s latest Netflix series, “Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Eric Menendez” delving into the divisive case.
Although the brothers initially said they were not responsible for the murders of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, they have clung to the same defense since confessing to the crimes. Lyle and Eric Menendez claim their parents physically, emotionally, and sexually abused them for years, and that they feared their parents would kill them if they did not act first. That’s when they pulled a gun on their parents in 1989.
From exactly what the brothers accused their parents of to the closeness of Lyle and Eric’s relationship, here’s what we know about the case.
Were the Menendez brothers abused by their parents?
Child abuse has always been central to Menendez’s defense. Both brothers claimed the sexual abuse began at age six. It started with Jose giving them massages after sports games. Later, this led to their father inserting objects inside them and eventually performing oral sex and rape on them. According to the brothers, Jose never said these encounters were homosexual, especially since he often used homophobic slurs. Rather, he said it was an exercise similar to what the Spartans or Romans did.
This wasn’t limited to Jose. It was an open secret in the family that if Jose went into Eric’s room and closed the door, the two were not to be disturbed. Jose was also known to swim with his sons during their teenage years.
The brothers said they told their mother what happened, but she denied it. According to them, he was not innocent either. Lyle said that until he was 13, Kitty would give him baths. He would also take her to bed with him and encourage him to fondle her. With Eric, he examined his genitals for early signs of HIV.
Lyle claimed that Jose abused her from the age of six until she was eight. Eric claimed that his abuse continued into adulthood, prompting the brothers to take action against their parents. Shortly after Lyle discovered that the abuse was continuing and that Eric was staying home to study, he confronted his parents. The brothers claimed that the violent aftermath of the confrontation led them to purchase guns as a means of self-defense.
Were the Menéndez brothers in love?
Lyle Menendez admitted on stage that he sexually assaulted his brother. He claimed he learned it from his father, who had been sexually abused by his siblings since she was six years old. While he admitted it at trial, Lyle barely held back tears as he apologized to Eric.
Aside from this disturbing revelation, the legend that the brothers had a romantic relationship with each other is not a common legend or even a common rumor.
In Robert Rand’s book, The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Story of the Menendez Family and the Murders That Shocked the Nation, he details how one of Eric’s jurors at the first trial suggested that the brothers were romantically involved. The jury put forward the theory that Eric and Lyle’s parents knew about their relationship, which was the real reason their parents killed the brothers. To determine if this theory had any credibility, the jury asked the court reporter to read “all testimony or references to Eric’s homosexuality.” And since the trial was televised, most of America knew that the brothers’ sexuality played a major factor in at least one jury’s decision. The theory was eventually dropped, and Eric and Lyle’s first trial ended in a hung jury.
Many also noted that Lyle was protective of his younger brother. But beyond these details, it seems the two were romantically involved, a work of fiction. It’s also possible that Monsters portrayed the brothers in this context to show how this family mixed familial love with romantic intimacy and to dramatize the rumors swirling around Lyle and Eric.
Eric Menendez’s sexuality
Before we get into this complicated topic, it should be noted that both brothers are currently married to women. Lyle was first married to Anna Erickson before divorcing and marrying Rebecca Snead in 2003.
Although Lyle’s sexuality was rarely questioned during the trials, Eric’s was. When he was on the stand at the first hearing, Eric admitted that he was “really confused” about his sexuality. The admission was related to Eric, who he says he endured at the hands of his father. His mother’s claim that he has a boyfriend was also part of the case. Kitty Menendez reportedly told Eric that he had six months to find a younger woman.
There were also rumors that Eric had sexual relationships with inmates while in prison. In Robert Hoefler’s Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne: A Life in Several Acts, he wrote: “There was a strain of homosexuality at the trial,” said prosecutor Pamela Bozanich, with whom Dunne quickly became friends. “We knew Eric was gay and had sexual relationships with inmates. They also knew it from the homerotic photographs of Eric.”
Eric Menendez is said to have always denied being gay. The defense has repeatedly objected to any reference by the prosecution to Eric’s sexuality. They also objected to Eric’s slur using details of his alleged homosexual lifestyle to guide his description of the abuse he experienced at the hands of his father.
Although the defense repeatedly tried to deflect attention from Eric’s sexuality, it became a major part of the first trial. The prosecution even argued that the Menendez family’s big secret was hiding Eric’s homosexuality, not the sexual, physical and emotional abuse of Jose, as the defense claimed. Many jurors said they did not believe those specific defense claims.
“Monsters: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story” is now streaming on Netflix.
