We previously reported that Rosie O’Donnell was on a quest to free the brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, who are currently serving life sentences for the 1989 murders of their parents. Now, Rosie has broken her silence to beg for their freedom after they were each just denied parole.
‘Free The Menendez Brothers…’
Last week, both Lyle, 57, and Erik, 54, were denied parole in separate hearings. This didn’t sit well with Rosie, who took to Instagram on Saturday to share her brief yet clear response.
“Free the Menendez brothers,” wrote Rosie, 53.
Lyle and Erik were each convicted on two counts of first-degree murder in 1996. This came seven years after they allegedly killed their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez.
Despite this, Lyle and Erik have claimed for decades that they killed their parents self-defense after years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Though some haven’t believed their claims, Rosie is fully in their corner.
Rosie’s Bond With The Menendez Brothers
Rosie has developed a particularly close friendship with Lyle. They first connected in the 1990s after Lyle wrote her a letter thanking her for defending him and his brother during an appearance on The Larry King Show. They then reconnected over the phone in 2022 after Lyle’s 2022 wife Rebecca Sneed put the two of them in touch.
In 2023, Rosie traveled to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California to meet the brothers in person for the first time.
“I saw Lyle and gave him a hug,” she later recalled to Variety. “Then Erik came over to me, hugged me, and whispered in my ear, ‘Thank you for loving my brother.’ It was very, very moving to me.”
These days, Rosie and Lyle are closer than ever.
“We talk a lot,” Rosie admitted. “I told them I would do what I could with whatever dwindling fame I have to bring light to their story. I said, ‘It’s not the 90s, Lyle. I’m not on that show anymore.’”
“I think if you feel strongly about something and you want to try to help society, you can use your voice because the children who are abused in their homes don’t have a voice,” she continued. “It’s up to the adults who were once those children to speak for them.”
In a shocking twist, Rosie even went so far as to credit Lyle with making her feel “safe enough to trust and be vulnerable and love a straight man” for the first time in her life.
Rosie Flees America
Rosie is now trying to help the Menendez brothers from her new home overseas. Indeed, she fled to Ireland earlier this year after Donald Trump took office for the second time. She even described this move as being one of “self-preservation,” since she greatly struggled during Trump’s first presidency.
“During his first go-round, it was very difficult, and I got myself into some bad places,” Rosie recently told the former CNN host Chris Cuomo. “You know, I was very, very depressed. I was overeating, I was overdrinking. I was so depressed, Chris.”
Here’s hoping that Rosie hasn’t gotten so “depressed” by the Menendez brothers being denied parole that she’s “overdrinking” again. Only time will tell if the Menendez brothers ever end up being free men again, but it’s not looking good for them.
In the end, perhaps having someone like Rosie in their corner wasn’t the advantage that the Mendendez brothers thought it would be. Go figure!