Kim Kardashian is once again using her celebrity to fight for prison reform — this time calling for freedom to be granted to the controversial Menendez brothers.
The reality superstar has called for the release of Lyle and Erik Menendez, the siblings serving a life sentence for the brutal 1989 killings of their parents.
In an essay published Thursday on NBC News, Kardashian wrote that her “hope is that Erik and Lyle Menendez’s life sentences are reconsidered.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 09: Kim Kardashian attends the 2024 Kering for Women dinner at The Pool on September 09, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
“We are all products of our experiences. They shape who we were, who we are, and who we will be. Physiologically and psychologically, time changes us, and I doubt anyone would claim to be the same person they were at 18,” Kardashian wrote.
After two widely watched trials, the Menendez brothers (then ages 21 and 18) were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.
The siblings have maintained that the killings were the result of yearslong sexual abuse and molestation at the hands of their father, high-ranking record executive José Menendez. The brothers also claimed their mother Mary Louise, known as “Kitty,” was an accomplice in the abuse.
“As is often the case, this story is much more complex than it appears on the surface,” Kardashian wrote, noting that “both brothers said they had been sexually, physically and emotionally abused for years by their parents.”
She also confirmed she visited San Diego’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in mid-September to meet with the brothers.
Outside of her pursuits as a billionaire beauty mogul and star of a reality TV empire, Kardashian — who passed the California “baby bar” in 2021 — has become a fierce public advocate for criminal justice reform. She has previously worked closely with both the Trump and Biden administrations to fight for the release of a number of different prisoners.
During a press conference on Thursday, L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón announced his office would review new evidence in the Menendez case that could eventually lead to their own release.
An Oct. 31, 2016, photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Erik Menendez, left, and a Feb. 22, 2018, photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Lyle Menendez. AP
On the heels of Ryan Murphy’s controversial Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” there’s been a renewed interest in the case and discussion around whether the brothers should still be behind bars.
Murphy — who also helmed true crime series based on Jeffrey Dahmer, Aaron Hernandez and Monica Lewinsky — told Variety in an interview Thursday that he believes the brothers “can be out of prison by Christmas. I really believe that.”
