In a surprise visit to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego, Kim Kardashian met with Erik and Lyle Menendez, famous for their high-profile murder trial in the 1990s.
The meeting, as reported TMZ on Saturday, comes shortly after Erik publicly criticized Kardashian collaborator Ryan Murphy and his Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which dramatizes their lives.
Joined by her sister Khloe Kardashian and mother Kris Jenner, Kim met with a group of around 40 inmates to discuss her continued commitment to criminal justice reform, the outlet’s source said.
It is worth noting that they were joined by actor Cooper Koch, who plays Erik in the series.
A major topic of discussion was Greenspace, an initiative led by Lyle that focuses on beautifying prison yards as a means of aiding rehabilitation, the source said.
In a surprise visit to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego, Kim Kardashian met with Erik and Lyle Menendez, famous for their high-profile murder trial in the 1990s (pictured in April).
The reunion, reported by TMZ on Saturday, comes shortly after Erik publicly criticized Kardashian collaborator Ryan Murphy and his Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which dramatizes their lives; (Erik and Lyle in 1990)
Erik and Lyle were convicted of brutally murdering their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989, and both brothers are currently serving life sentences.
News of the reunion came after it was revealed that Erik shared his thoughts on the miniseries on Lyle’s Facebook page, slamming Murphy for what he called his “horrible” and “shameless” lies on the show.
“I thought we were beyond the lies and the shoddy portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle based on the horrible, outright lies that are rife on the show. I can only believe they did this on purpose,” Erik’s lengthy message began.
“It is with great regret that I must say that I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be so naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives as to do this without ill intent.”
Erik is portrayed in the series by Koch, while Lyle is portrayed in the series by Nicholas Alexander Chavez.
Javier Bardem plays his father, José Menéndez, and Chloë Sevigny plays his mother, Kitty.
She continued: “It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime has pushed painful truths back several steps, to a time when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that men were not sexually abused and that men experienced the trauma of rape differently than women.”
Monsters premiered on Netflix on September 19 and depicts the brothers as spoiled children who go on a spending spree after shooting their parents dead.
Convicted murderer Erik Menendez shares his scathing take on Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix limited series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story; Murphy will be seen on September 16 in Los Angeles
The 53-year-old shared his thoughts on Lyle’s Facebook page, slamming Murphy for the “horrible” and “shameless” lies on the show.
She continued: “It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime has pushed painful truths back several steps in time, to a time when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that men were not sexually abused and that men experienced the trauma of rape differently than women.”
Later in the series, sexual abuse of the brothers by both parents is shown, which alludes to Lyle and Erik’s true motives for the murders.
“These horrific lies have been debunked and exposed by countless brave victims over the past two decades, who have overcome their personal shame and spoken out bravely,” Erik said.
“Now Murphy shapes his horrific narrative through vile and appalling character portraits of Lyle and me and through disheartening slander,” he wrote.
The criticism comes after Murphy first teamed up with Kim for American Horror Story: Delicate, which premiered on September 20, 2023.
In this groundbreaking series, Kardashian took on her first major scripted role as Siobhan Walsh, a character who faces the surreal and unsettling challenges of pregnancy.
Following her performance on AHS, Kim signed on for Murphy’s next project, described as a high-stakes, glossy and sexy adult procedural called All’s Fair.
The reality star will play Los Angeles’ top divorce attorney and the head of an all-female law firm.
For Kardashian, taking on the role of a lawyer feels particularly fitting since she’s actively pursuing a legal career in real life: Having passed the baby bar exam last year, she’s now preparing for the full bar exam.
The criticism comes after Murphy first teamed up with Kim for American Horror Story: Delicate, which premiered on September 20, 2023.
In this groundbreaking series, Kardashian took on her first major scripted role as Siobhan Walsh, a character who faces the surreal and unsettling challenges of pregnancy.
Kim’s advocacy for criminal justice reform began in earnest in 2017, when she championed the cause of Alice Johnson, a woman serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug trafficking offense.
Kardashian initially reached out to Ivanka Trump to draw attention to Johnson’s case.
That advocacy culminated in a meeting with former President Donald Trump, where he passionately campaigned for Johnson’s clemency.
Kardashian’s efforts paid off in June 2018 when Trump granted Johnson a pardon, leading to her release from prison after more than 20 years.
Inspired by this success, Kardashian has since expanded her advocacy to include others facing similar injustices, such as Kevin Cooper, who has been on death row for more than three decades, and Julius Jones, a man wrongfully convicted of murder.
Through her ongoing efforts, Kardashian has established herself as a leading voice in the criminal justice reform movement, using her platform to raise awareness and bring about change for those caught up in a flawed system.
Kim’s advocacy work dates back to 2017, when she became involved in the fight for Alice Johnson’s pardon; Kardashian pictured with Johnson in 2018
Kim spoke passionately about criminal justice reform at the White House in June 2019.
In May 2022, during the inaugural season of her family’s Hulu show The Kardashians, Kim captured the moment she found out she had passed the baby bar exam.
Sitting in her car with friend and publicist Tracy Romulus, Kardashian logged into her online account to check the results of her third attempt at the challenging test.
The emotional revelation marked an important milestone in her journey to becoming a lawyer, reflecting her determination and commitment to her legal education.
“Everyone told me this was the impossible path and there was no way I could pass this test, and I did,” he later said in a confessional interview.
