Menendez Brothers to Break Silence for Netflix Show

Convicted killers Lyle and Erik Menendez will participate in an upcoming Netflix documentary after bashing a series about them now airing on the platform. Erik Menendez's wife, Tami, shared a statement Thursday in which her husband criticized Netflix and Ryan Murphy Productions for the brothers' portrayal in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, now the No. 1 show on Netflix in the US. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the true-crime drama series portrays an incestuous relationship between the adult brothers, who are shown kissing in the shower. Erik spoke of blatant lies and "ruinous character portrayals of Lyle," who admitted to molesting Erik as a child during the brothers' 1995 retrial.

"How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma," Erik said, per NPR. It's "disheartening slander." The brothers, portrayed by prosecutors as spoiled brats only after their parents' fortune, have long argued they killed José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez as a result of years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. They recently brought forth a letter, written eight months before the killings, in which Erik tells a cousin that he fears his father entering his bedroom at night. Former Menudo member "Roy" Rossello Diaz has also claimed José Menendez drugged and raped him when he was a child.

Neither Netflix nor Ryan Murphy Productions commented on the criticism. On Monday, however, Netflix announced a new documentary, The Menendez Brothers, will air on the platform beginning Oct. 7. "For the first time in 30 years, and in their own words, both brothers revisit the trial that shocked the nation," Netflix said, per the Hollywood Reporter. The series, directed by Alejandro Hartmann, will "offer new insight and a fresh perspective on a case that people only think they know." It is to include audio interviews with the brothers, as well as input from lawyers, journalists, jurors, and family members. See a trailer here. (More Menendez brothers stories.)