Almost two years ago, the first season of Ryan Murphy’s Monsters series arrived on Netflix, chronicling the crimes of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The creator, best known for the likes of American Horror Story and Scream Queens is no stranger to creating excellent content. On Thursday, Sept. 19, season two landed on the streamer, this time taking us into the world of the Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik. Despite growing up in a seemingly picture-perfect affluent family, the young men allegedly endured abuse at the hands of their father, Jose. One of the biggest questions viewers currently have is, why did Lyle have no hair?
The answer reveals a lot about the secretive nature of the Menendez clan, but be warned – spoilers for Monsters lie ahead! Nicholas Chavez plays Lyle on-screen, while Cooper Koch stars as his younger brother, Erik. The pair was charged with the murder of their parents, Kitty and Jose, who were shot multiple times in the family room of their Beverly Hills home on Aug. 20, 1989. The Menendez brothers weren’t convicted until 1996, at which time they were sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Did Lyle Menendez Have a Toupee?
In the first episode of Murphy’s new Netflix Original, Kitty (Chloë Sevigny) is painted as an abusive mother during an argument with Lyle. The script for Monsters is based on Robert Rand’s book “The Menendez Murders,” and most of what happens on-screen is aligned with the true story. On Aug. 15, five days before the murders, Lyle and his parents were fighting as they didn’t approve of the 20-year-old’s plan to marry his then-girlfriend. “You don’t get to say that when you did the same thing when you were my age!” Lyle criticizes his elders, who tied the knot months after meeting in college.
Rand’s book says, “Kitty screamed and flailed with clenched fists at her son, who raised his arms to defend himself.” In a moment of pure rage, she pulled at the brown tresses on his head, shocking Erik (and audiences) who couldn’t help but wonder, why did Lyle have no hair? “It was his toupee,” Rand explained. “It came off like a savage scalping… Removing it, carefully, took a special solvent. When Kitty tore it off, Lyle felt immense pain.”
The elder Menendez brother shaved the crown of his head to be fitted for a hairpiece two years earlier on the advice of Jose. The family patriarch convinced Lyle that his future was in politics and “to be successful, he’d need a thick head of hair.” The then-teenager’s was beginning to thin at the top, so before heading off to Princeton, he had a full hairpiece made. After witnessing the dinner table drama, Erik and his big brother went out to the guesthouse to discuss everything.
“I’m sad we’re not a family. I never knew about your hair. We have so many secrets,” the young man told Lyle. At the same time, he confessed that Jose had been sexually molesting him and the two planned to move away together to escape him. In their 1993 trial, both Menendez brothers testified that their father sexually abused them for years. Read more about the haunting true story behind Monsters season two here!
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