Actor who plays Erik Menendez in ‘Monsters’ had an ’emotional’ meeting with the convicted murderer thanks to a prison visit arranged by Kim Kardashian

The show’s fifth episode sees Erik open up about his father’s alleged sexual and emotional abuse. As the brothers claimed during their high-profile trial, they killed their parents in self-defense after being sexually abused by their father for years.

“I spoke to him about it, which was insane for me,” Koch said.

As THR reported, Koch’s visit with the Menendez brothers was arranged by Kardashian, who has been pursuing a law degree and who has advocated for criminal justice reform.

Kardashian FaceTime called Koch to set up the visit just days before it happened, per THR.

As Business Insider previously reported, “The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” takes some dramatic license with the brothers’ personal lives and streamlines some of the legal proceedings to fit the limited series.

As the series was released, Tammi Menendez, Erik’s wife, shared a statement on X on behalf of her husband, criticizing the show for “creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies.”

Murphy responded to Erik’s criticism in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.

“I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show,” he said, adding: “It’s really, really hard — if it’s your life — to see your life up on screen.”

But earlier this week, Tammi shared an additional statement on X that she said was from the Menendez family.

“Ryan Murphy’s ‘Monsters: the Lyle and Erik Story’ is a phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare that is not only riddled with mistruths and outright falsehoods but ignores the most recent exculpatory revelations,” it said.

According to Koch, he and Erik spoke about the backlash the show has received for certain creative decisions.

“I spoke to him about his statement,” Koch told THR. “And, you know, I just told him that I understand where he’s coming from. I feel for him.”

“I can’t imagine what it must be like to have the worst parts of your life be portrayed on television in this fictionalized, dramatized way, you know, and so I just told him that I stand with him,” he continued. “I understand how that must feel and that it’s really difficult.”