Actor Cooper Koch from “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” says the first time he spoke to the real Erik Menendez was not the day he visited the real brothers in prison, along with Kim Kardashian. The actor, who plays Erik in the series, tells diversity that he and the real Erik spoke on the phone the night before the premiere of “Monsters” on Netflix.

“I was able to have a really good conversation with him and tell him that I believe him and that I have done everything I can as an actor to advocate for him and portray him as authentically as possible, and that I think the show represents him really well,” Koch said. diversity. “We had a really nice conversation. We talked about other things, like how I went to Calabasas High School, which is where he went when he moved to California. My dad graduated from Beverly Hills High School the year before Erik. We have all these weird parallels.”

A few days after the phone call, Erik criticized the show in a statement his wife posted on X. Koch said the two discussed his criticism during his prison visit with Kardashian. “I told him it’s understandable that you feel that way,” Koch said. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to have the worst part of your life, something so traumatic and tragic, televised for millions of people in a dramatized Hollywood TV manner. I just said, ‘I get it, I get it, and I’m with you.'”

When asked how Koch and Kardashian came to visit the prison, the actor said the two were introduced to each other by his stylist Jamie Mizrahi.

“They were having lunch together and I got a text from Jamie. It was a video of Kim saying, ‘I love you on the show. You’re so amazing,'” Koch recalled. “I thought this is so crazy, but then they texted me saying they wanted to call me. Kim got on the phone and started asking me all these questions about Eric and the brothers. Then she told me she was going 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, California, on Sept. 21 to speak to inmates about prison reforms. They were also accompanied by Kardashian’s mother, Kris Jenner, and her sister, Khloé Kardashian. Koch said Erik was the first person he saw when they entered the prison gym.

“We just looked at each other and immediately hugged. He was so nice. Lyle too, I got to hug them both and just be in their presence,” Koch said. “They are such upstanding people. They’ve done so much work in their prison. Erik teaches meditation and language classes and they’re doing this greenspace project to improve the prison grounds. It’s just been incredible.”

The Menendez brothers are currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the premeditated murder of their parents in 1989. Koch said diversity In his opinion, Erik and Lyle deserve a renegotiation.

“They committed the crime when they were 18 and 21 years old, and back then it was really hard for people to believe that sexual abuse between men, especially between father and son, could occur,” Koch said. “It was really hard for people to understand that the story they were telling was true, and this theory that they killed their parents for money is just crazy. But it was easier for people back then to kind of swallow that story. But now, after 35 years, we have so much more evidence of child sexual abuse and sexual abuse between men that I think they deserve a retrial. And even in this second trial, they were not allowed to use their claims of sexual abuse.”

He added: “I really hope they get paroled and have a wonderful rest of their lives.”

Koch mentioned that he and Erik bonded over spirituality. “I always knew I wanted to meet them,” he said. “I always knew I wanted to tell them that I believed in them and that I wanted to advocate for them. When it happened, it felt strangely normal, like I already knew them because I had been watching them for so long and had seen and heard them talk for hours.”

But then Koch paused and smiled. “I know that doesn’t make sense,” he said. “It’s pretty crazy. When I sit here and talk to you about it, it sounds really crazy.”

Koch’s participation in the San Diego meeting comes as Kardashian continues to regularly visit prisons to gather and share information about rehabilitation programs and prison reform, which she has highlighted on Kardashian’s television shows and presented at diversity Summit on judicial reform.

In July, Kardashian met with Chloë Sevigny, who plays Lyle and Erik’s mother Kitty Menendez in “Monsters,” for diversity Actor to Actor where they discussed their first impressions of the case. Sevigny talked about her difficulties in portraying the victim of such a brutal murder, while Kardashian reflected on what it was like growing up close to 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 past the house and told me the story.”