Kim Kardashian visited the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego on Saturday to speak to a large group of inmates, including brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, about prison reform.
Kardashian was joined by sister Khloe Kardashian, mother Kris Jenner, film producer Scott Budnick and actor Cooper Koch, who plays Erik in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix biopic series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”
The Menendez brothers, who fatally shot their parents Kitty and Jose Menendez in 1989, were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
On Friday, Erik had a strong criticism of Monsters, saying the second installment of the Netflix anthology series perpetuated his and his brother Lyle’s “ruinous character portrayals.”
“It is with a heavy heart that I say: I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be so naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives as to do this without malicious intent,” Menendez wrote in his statement, which was posted on his wife Tammi Menendez’s X account (formerly Twitter)..
Kardashian recently worked with Murphy on a new rendition of “American Horror Story.” The actor and reality star also regularly visits prisons to learn and speak about rehabilitation programs and prison reform, which she has shared on Kardashian TV shows and discussed on Variety’s Summit on judicial reform.
Earlier this year, Kardashian spoke with “Monsters” star Chloë Sevigny, who plays Kitty Menendez in the “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” for Variety Actors on Actors. Together they talked about the Menendez family ahead of the season’s release.
Sevigny revealed the challenges she faced embodying Menendez’s matriarch, saying, “We’re playing interpretations of her, so I’m not necessarily playing her truth, which I found very difficult.”
“I grew up down the street from the house where everything happened, and everyone went to the same schools,” Kardashian replied. “I remember hearing about that case. But my father drove me past the house and told me the story. And he had been in the house. Since the boys are still alive, would you be open to that if they tried to contact you?
“I think it’s a slippery slope, and I think the legal aspects are also very dangerous,” Sevigny said. “I’ve committed a lot of real crimes, and honestly, I find it a bit mentally exhausting just thinking about the responsibilities to the victims, even to the killers and their family members.”
TMZ was the first to report on Kardashian’s visit.