Rosie O’Donnell said she feels like “a big sister” to Lyle and Erik Menendez, who are currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, in 1989.
“I feel like a big sister in a way,” O’Donnell told Variety., after being asked if she has “become sort of a surrogate mother” to the Menendez brothers.
Notably, the Menendez brothers recently received national attention again as their story is depicted in the new Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which the two men have condemned.
“I think everyone who brought attention to it should be commended,” O’Donnell said, but added, “I’m glad that it happened. I’m not one to say it did or didn’t help. I just know, in my opinion, it could have been much more accurate.”
O’Donnell also revealed that Barbara Walters, who interviewed Lyle and Erik in prison in 1996, previously told her not to talk to the Menendez brothers, warning that Lyle is “very cunning” and a “murderer.”
“I was out to lunch with Barbara Walters and our publicist Cindy Berger, and I said, ‘Barbara, you’re not going to believe this, but guess who wrote to me — Lyle Menendez,” O’Donnell recalled. “Barbara said, ‘Ignore him, he’s a murderer. He’s very cunning.'”
While O’Donnell initially followed Walters’ advice, she apparently couldn’t help herself from reaching out to the brothers two years ago, after watching a documentary that featured new evidence supporting their story.
“I came in two years ago as a cheerleader,” she told Variety. “I told them then, ‘You’re going to get out of there.’ They didn’t really believe me, but I believe that the wrong will be righted. They’re still reticent to believe it’s going to happen.”
Last week, Los Angeles County district attorney George Gascón announced that the Menendez brothers could potentially be resentenced or released in light of new evidence.
O’Donnell told Variety that she believes the Menendez brothers could be released from prison in the “next 30 days.”
The comedian also conveyed that she and the two men have become fast friends.
“We talk a lot,” she said. “I told them I would do what I could with whatever dwindling fame I have to bring light to their story.”
O’Donnell even became emotional when she told Variety about meeting Lyle last year.
“I saw Lyle and gave him a hug,” she said, reportedly choking back tears. ‘Then Erik came over to me, hugged me, and whispered in my ear, ‘Thank you for loving my brother.’ It was very, very moving to me.”
O’Donnell even plans to take Lyle out to Nobu, a luxury restaurant frequented by celebrities, if he is released from prison.
“I’ve always told Lyle that I will take him to Nobu because he thinks that’s the place to go,” she said. “Sometimes, I would talk to him at night, and I’d say that my friends and I went to Nobu for lunch. I’d say, ‘Buddy, when you get out, I’ll take you to Nobu.’ When I talked to him the other day, he said, ‘When are we going to Nobu?’ I said, ‘Sooner than you think.'”
O’Donnell is no stranger to cozying up to men who have been sentenced to prison.
As Breitbart News reported, O’Donnell recently struck a friendship with Michael Cohen, texting him “I love you” as he appeared as a witness in the criminal case against his ex-boss, former President Donald Trump, and got dinner with him at a New York restaurant in December, after he was released from prison.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.