How does Rosie O'Donnell know the Menendez brothers?

As the Menendez brothers wait to review new evidence related to their 1996 murder conviction, they have one particularly vocal supporter on their side: Rosie O'Donnell.

O'Donnell has become close to the Menendez brothers, advocating for them on social media and even visiting them in prison. Lyle Menendez also appeared as a guest on her podcast “Onward” last September.

On October 16, O'Donnell is expected to speak at a press conference at a Los Angeles criminal court alongside the Menendez family and the brothers' defense attorney.

While their personal relationship has developed in recent years, O'Donnell's support for the brothers began decades ago, when she defended them on “Larry King Live” in the 1990s, prompting Lyle Menendez to write her a letter.

Erik and Lyle Menendez were charged with the 1989 murders of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez and have been serving life sentences without chance of parole since their conviction in 1996.

Although O'Donnell does not deny that the brothers committed these crimes, she expresses sympathy for allegations that they were abused by their father for years.

“I believe them. They were terribly abused by their parents. They did the unthinkable, what was done to them day after day,” she said in a June 2023 TikTok video. “And they paid the price for it.”

On Oct. 3, the Los Angeles County district attorney said his office would review new evidence showing the brothers were sexually abused by their father. A hearing is scheduled for November 26th.

The review could lead to a possible reassessment of the brothers' sentences, something O'Donnell hopes will happen.

“I believe they should be released,” she said in a May 2023 TikTok video.

Read on to learn more about the connection between Rosie O'Donnell and Erik and Lyle Menendez.

O'Donnell has long supported the Menendez brothers

O'Donnell's connection to the Menendez brothers goes back decades. According to an interview O'Donnell gave with Variety in early October, she spoke on “Larry King Live” about her case about 30 years ago and said she believes the brothers' claims that they were sexually abused by their father, Jose Menendez .

Both Lyle and Erik Menendez have accused their father of abusing them. According to the 2018 book “The Menendez Murders,” Lyle Menendez testified in his first trial that his father abused him between the ages of 6 and 8. According to the book, Erik Menendez also said that his father began sexually abusing him when he was six years old.

O'Donnell said Lyle Menendez wrote her a letter in 1996 after discussing her case on “Larry King Live.”

“It basically said, ‘I know you know. And I hope we can connect,” O'Donnell said in a June 2023 TikTok video. She said she didn't respond to his letter at the time because she was “scared” and “unwilling to broach the subject.” “.

In May 2023, she renewed her public support for the brothers after watching the Peacock documentary series “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.” (Peacock is part of TODAY's parent company, NBCUniversal.)

In the series, Roy Roselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, claimed that Jose Menendez, then head of RCA Records, drugged and raped him.

Shortly after the series came out last year, Erik and Lyle Menendez filed a motion asking the court to reconsider their life sentences based on new evidence.

O'Donnell said in a May 2023 TikTok that watching the series strengthened her belief that the Menendez brothers' murders should be viewed in the context of their alleged childhood trauma.

“I always believed that no one would actually kill their parents for fun… I just believed that. As humans, we’re not wired that way,” she said.

O'Donnell visited the brothers in prison last year

O'Donnell revealed that she visited Erik and Lyle Menendez at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego last year.

“I saw Lyle and hugged him,” she told Variety. “Then Erik came to me, hugged me and whispered in my ear, 'Thank you for loving my brother.' It was very, very moving for me.”

They have a particularly close bond with Lyle Menendez, whose wife, Rebecca Sneed, helped put them in touch last year.

“We talk a lot,” O’Donnell told Variety about Lyle Menendez. “I told them that with the fading fame I have, I would do what I could to shed light on their story.”

In September 2023, Lyle Menendez appeared on the Onward with Rosie O'Donnell podcast and spoke to her from prison.

He spoke about what inspired him to reach out to her in 1996 after seeing her defend him on “Larry King Live.”

“I wrote to you in the early '90s … and I felt like you had a similar story to me in some ways,” he said. “For some reason I could just feel it. Survivors are so connected.”

Today, O'Donnell said she is in frequent contact with the brothers and sent them a message of support when she learned of the new court hearing in November.

“As soon as the news broke, I texted them and said, 'It's really happening.' Now put that smile on your face. “Here we go,” she told Variety. “They’ve been waiting for this for so many decades, and it’s time.”

O'Donnell believes the brothers could be released “sooner than later.”

O'Donnell said she was hopeful about the Menendez brothers' fate, telling Variety in October that she believed they could be released from prison “sooner than later.”

“I don’t think they’re going to keep them waiting much longer,” she said.

She said she was encouraged by Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón's Oct. 3 announcement that his office would review what he said was new evidence that the brothers were sexually abused by their father. At the conference, he said prosecutors had discretion to decide whether inmates could be resentenced after examining new evidence. The inmates could “leave prison depending on the court’s decision,” suggesting the possibility of the Menendez brothers being released.

In O'Donnell's eyes, Lyle and Erik Menendez have paid enough for their crimes.

“These two boys who suffered 20 years in their home and 30 years in prison have served enough time,” she said on “Cuomo” last year.