Rosie O’Donnell Forms Unlikely Connection with Convicted Killer Lyle Menendez

Rosie O’Donnell Forms Unlikely Connection with Convicted Killer Lyle Menendez

Rosie O’Donnell recently revealed her surprising relationship with convicted killer Lyle Menendez. The two have forged a bond while Menendez serves his life sentence in prison for the 1989 murders of his parents, Jose and Mary Menendez. Lyle, now 57, and his brother Erik, 54, were sentenced in 1996 and have remained incarcerated in San Diego since then.

In an interview published in the New York Times, O’Donnell, 63, candidly shared how their friendship developed. Their conversations, facilitated through a tablet phone system in prison, allowed O’Donnell to open up in ways she hadn’t before. She expressed, “He started calling me on a regular basis. He would tell me about his life, what he’s been doing in prison and, for the first time in my life, I felt safe enough to trust and be vulnerable and love a straight man.”

How It All Began

The roots of their connection trace back to the Menendez brothers’ trial in 1996, where defense attorneys argued that the siblings committed their parent’s murders in self-defense following years of abuse.

During a memorable episode of