Erik Menendez Actor Cooper Koch Hugged the Real Menendez Bros. During Prison Visit with Kim Kardashian, Says They Deserve a Retrial and Are ‘Ups…see more

Erik Menendez Actor Cooper Koch Hugged the Real Menendez Bros. During Prison Visit with Kim Kardashian, Says They Deserve a Retrial and Are ‘Upstanding Individuals’

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” actor Cooper Koch says the first time he spoke to the real Erik Menendez was not the day he visited the real brothers in prison alongside Kim Kardashian. The actor, who plays Erik in the series, tells Variety that he and the real Erik talked on the phone the night before “Monsters” premiered on Netflix.

“I got to have a really good conversation with him and tell him that I believe him and I did everything I could as an actor to advocate for him and portray him as authentically as possible, and that I think the show does a really good job of representing him,” Koch told Variety. “We had a really nice conversation. We talked about other things like I went to Calabasas High School, which is where he went when he first moved to California. My father graduated Beverly Hills High School the year before Erik got there. We have all of these weird parallels.”

A few days after the phone call, Erik slammed the series in a statement his wife posted on X. Koch said the two discussed his criticisms during his prison visit with Kardashian. “I told him that it makes sense that you would feel this way,” Koch said. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to have the worst part of your life, such a traumatic and tragic thing, be televised for millions of people to see in a dramatized Hollywood TV way. I just said, ‘I understand, I get it, and I stand with you.’”

As for how Koch ended up joining Kardashian for the prison visit, the actor said the two were introduced to each other through his stylist, Jamie Mizrahi.

“They were having lunch together and I got a text from Jamie. It was a video of Kim being like, ‘I love you in the show. You’re so amazing,’” Koch recalled. “I was like this is so crazy but then they texted that they wanted to call me. Kim gets on the phone and starts asking me all these questions about Eric and about the brothers. Then she told me that she was going down there and asked me if I wanted to go with them. It all happened very quickly.”

They visited the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego, Calif. on Sept. 21 to discuss prison reform with inmates. They were also accompanied by Kardashian’s mother, Kris Jenner, and sister, Khloé Kardashian. Koch said Erik was the first person he saw when they walked into the prison gymnasium.

of the case. Sevigny shared her struggles portraying a victim of such a brutal murder, while Kardashian reflected on growing up near the Menendez family. “I grew up right down the street from the house where it all happened, and everyone went to the same schools,” Kardashian said. “I remember hearing about the case, but my dad drove me by the house and told me the story.”