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Did Lyle Menendez Really Wear a Hairpiece? How It Played a Role

Vaseline September 20, 2024

The Netflix miniseries Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has revived attention for the case and trial, which captured public attention in the 1990s.

A fictionalized retelling of the murders of José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez by their sons Lyle and Erik Menendez in August 1989. The series is the second installment of Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters” anthology, which began in 2022 with the release of “Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story.”

The series follows the lives of Lyle Menendez and Erik Menendez, played by Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch respectively, leading up to the murder and the subsequent trial. The many complex layers of the case left years of speculation, theories and controversy behind it, making it one of the most notorious in true crime history.

The show’s creators, and in particular co-creator Ryan Murphy, have been criticized for what some have called inaccuracies in the show, with the Menendez family repeatedly claiming the show was full of “lies.”

Separating fact from fiction, a point of interest among viewers has become the reality behind Lyle Menendez’s alleged baldness and use of hairpieces. Wondering what’s true and what’s questionable? Here’s what we know.

What’s happening in the scene?

In “Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story” the scene takes place at the dinner table.

In this film, 20-year-old Lyle Menendez tells his parents that he wants to marry his girlfriend. The family gets into a fight when they tell him that he is too young to marry.

When Lyle notices that his parents, José Menendez (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny), got married at the same age, Kitty rips off his hairpiece in a fit of rage, revealing a nearly bald head.

Embarrassed, Lyle runs off to the guesthouse to reattach it, followed by his brother Erik. In the television version, a bond forms between the two at this point, prompting them to confess the abuse they endured at the hands of their father and commit to supporting each other.

In the series’ timeline, this is one of the final catalysts for the murder.

Fact vs. Fiction: Did Lyle Menendez Wear Wigs?

Lyle Menendez did wear hairpieces, something he admitted in his own court testimony. As Menendez recounted on the stand, he and his mother had argued about it five days before the brothers murdered their parents.

He told the examining attorney that the altercation “definitely had something to do with my hairpiece at one point,” and alleged that his mother “lost control, was flailing and screaming” during the fight. At one point, he also said, “she grabbed my hairpiece and just ripped it off.”

He explained in detail how he put the hairpiece on and wore it, saying it was applied to the skin with a solvent adhesive. He testified that it was painful when his mother pulled it off because you have to use “this blue chemical” to get it off properly.

“(My brother) didn’t know I had a hairpiece,” he said. “I was completely embarrassed for my brother.”

He later testified that he began experiencing hair loss around age 14 and that it was his father who suggested the toupee. Multiple reports and the account of events in Robert Rand’s book “The Menendez Murders” claim that Menendez became obsessed with his hair loss and that his father told him that a full head of hair would be important to his success at Princeton and beyond.

He also reportedly had to shave the area on top of his head to properly secure the toupe, which Vanity Fair previously reported was worth more than $1,450 (more than $3,000 today). He reportedly owned several expensive pieces. Hairpieces are not allowed in prison, and recent photos of Menendez show him completely bald. During his trial, he was not allowed to wear the hairpieces while incarcerated, but he was allowed to wear them during the trial.

Although the Netflix series showed Menendez as being nearly completely bald at this point in his life, testimony and ‘The Menendez Murders’ suggest he was likely experiencing thinning hair rather than being completely bald at the time.

Why was that important?

Depending on who you ask, the hairpiece incident may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back leading up to the murder of José and Kitty Menendez.

According to the brothers’ testimonies and “The Menendez Murders,” Erik followed his brother to the boarding house, where he reattached the hairpiece after his mother had pulled it off in real life.

There, the couple allegedly complained about the secrets they were keeping from each other, and Erik confessed that his father had sexually abused him, an accusation both brothers made against José during the trial. They allegedly hatched a plan to have Erik move with his brother when he went to Princeton for school.

The allegations of abuse, which the brothers said went beyond sexual abuse, were central to the trial and were frequently cited by the defense. Ultimately, however, they were both found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison without parole.