Rosie O’donnell admits that Lyle Mendez is the first “straight man” who can “trust”
Rosie O’donnell He opened on the surprising bond that he trained with the condemned killer Lyle Mendez.
Lyle, 57 years old, and his brother Erik Mendez, 54, are currently imprisoned in San Diego, where they are serving life sentences without the possibility of conditional freedom after being sentenced in 1996 for killing their parents, Jose and Mary “Kitty” Mendez, in 1989.
During an interview with the New York Times Published Saturday, O’Donnell, 63, shared details on his friendship with Lyle and how they communicated while he stays behind bars.
“He started calling me regularly from the thing about the phone of the tablet they have,” he said. “He would have told me about his life, of what he did in prison and, for the first time in my life, I felt safe enough to trust me and to be vulnerable and I love a straight man.”
Rosie O’donnell detailed the surprising relationship he developed with the chosen killer Lyle Mendez. (Getty)
While spoken with the New York Times, O’donnell shared that his relationship with Lyle began during the Mendez Brothers’ trial in 1996.
Lyle and Erik’s defense lawyers claimed that the brothers had killed Jose and Kitty for self -defense after having undergone years of abuse and harassment on the part of their parents.
O’donnell recalled that he appeared in a 1996 episode of “Larry King Live”, where he said he believed in the defense of the brothers.
Lyle and Erik’s defense lawyers claimed that the brothers had killed Jose and Kitty for self -defense after having undergone years of abuse and harassment on the part of their parents. (Vince Bucci/AFP via Getty Images)
THE Former Talk Show conductor He told New York that Lyle had sent her a letter after her interview on “Larry King Live”. In the letter, Lyle “thanked her for her support and declared her belief of” knowing “from a personal place that what she was saying was true.”
O’donnell told the NYT that it was her personal experience that led her to believe the Mensendo brothers while she affirmed “she and her brothers had been harassed by her father”.
However, O’donnell said he never answered Lyle’s letter.
Rosie O’donnell reveals that his father abused her sexually: “It started very young”
“At that point, I hadn’t ventured anywhere close to this in my family or in my therapy,” he told Nyt.
O’donnell recalled that Lyle contacted her after it appeared in “Larry King Live” in 1996. (Ap photo/nick ut)
Years later, O’donnell and Lyle Refurbished after seeing a 2022 documentary that included new tests in support of the history of the Mendez brothers.
Do you like what you are reading? Click here for further entertainment news
O’Donnell discussed the case during a Tiktok video in which he defended the brothers once again. Subsequently, Lyle’s wife, Rebecca Sneed, contacted her to “see if she was interested in talking to him”.
Lyle and O’donnell therefore had their first phone call, which the comedian said “lasted two or three hours” and since then they have remained regularly in contact.
O’donnell said Lyle is the first “straight man” who feels “quite safe to trust” and “love”. (Getty)
O’Donnell admitted that some of his friends have “expressed concern” for his unlikely relationship with Lyle.
Click here to subscribe to the entertainment newsletter
He told New York that he “shrugged” when his friends said “” ‘he is a murderer” and instead he went to find himself Lyle in prison.
During his visit, Lyle informed her of a program in which he and his prisoners of prison help to train and place dogs with blind veterans and disabled people and children to whom autism was diagnosed.
App users click here to view the post
At Lyle’s suggestion, O’donnell decided to get a dog through the program for his 12 -year -old son Clay, who is autistic. “He spent two weeks of commuting daily in prison” before taking home a mix of Labrador named Kuma, who had been trained by a prisoner who takes time for the armed robbery.
Click here to get the Fox News App
“I immediately noticed the difference in the clay,” he said to the NYT. “I was shocked to discover that all the stories I heard from other mothers of autistic children were true.”
The experience inspired O’donnell to film a documentary Program information, entitled “LikeShing Hope: The Power of Service Dogs for Autism”, which will debut on Hulu on April 22nd.
