Is Lyle Menendez actually bald? Truth behind the subject's hair in The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, explored

Truth behind lyle menendez being really bald (Image via Netflix)
Truth behind lyle menendez being really bald (Image via Netflix)

Yes, as seen in The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Lyle Menendez was bald at the top, and he wore a hairpiece to cover that spot. He attached it with super glue.

The first episode of the series Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story features a scene where Kitty Menendez pulls off the hairpiece from her son’s head. The audience then realizes that Lyle Mendez is bald.

The series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is a creation based on a true crime by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. The two brothers, Lyle and Erik Menendez, were convicted of murdering their parents, José and "Kitty" Menendez, back in 1996

The prosecution claimed they did it to collect their inheritance. Still, the brothers have, to date, remained firm in their statement that they did it to avoid the physical and emotional abuse inflicted on them by their parents for years.


Did Lyle Menendez have alopecia?

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No, Lyle Menendez had no such medical condition as alopecia, a disease that leads to patchy or complete hair loss. Rather, the Menendez brother had such significant hair loss when he was around the age of 14 that he began wearing a toupee. His father told him he needed to get a hairpiece for his political ambitions.

By the time of the murders in 1989, Lyle had been donning a toupee for about three to four years that was stuck on with adhesive glue. A turning point occurred just days before the murders when his mother ripped off the toupee during a quarrel and bared him bald.

This incident has been claimed to embarrass Lyle so much and cause him such pain, but it led to further discussion with his brother Erik regarding the abuse both of them suffered. Even though Lyle was losing his hair, it has been argued that the anxiety from the familial abuse might have added to the hair loss rather than alopecia.


How did everyone know about Lyle Menendez wearing a wig?

Lyle's truth of him being bald (Image via Netflix)
Lyle's truth of him being bald (Image via Netflix)

In the first episodes of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Erik has a therapy session where he tells the truth as to why he and his brother murdered their parents. While also adding that their parents were abusive. Erik recalls a heated argument in which Lyle told their parents he wanted to marry his girlfriend, Jamie Lee Pisarcik. José and Kitty disapproved, saying it was too early.

The argument escalates even further, with Lyle calling out their parents for their hypocrisy, as they also married when they were in college. Kitty, irritated with her son, responds by calling Lyle himself a hypocrite and pulling the wig off of his head, revealing to everyone that Lyle Menendez is really bald.


The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story: Did Lyle Menendez start losing hair because of his parents?

Ripping of Lyle's wig (Imae via Netflix)
Ripping of Lyle's wig (Imae via Netflix)

Lyle in The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story allegedly started wearing hairpieces when he was 16, but we do not know the exact reason behind his baldness. It has been theorized that stress and anxiety connected with his stories about himself and his brother to that of his parents probably had something to do with it.

Lyle obtained his toupees from the Hair Replacement Center in Los Angeles. He made sure that his wigs were 100 percent human hair. The last wig he bought cost him $1,450. Along with the wig talked about in this article, he had three other quality toupees that were very similar.


Did Kate invite her death by exposing Lyle Menendez's baldness?

The Menendez brothers get arrested for their parent's murder (Image via Netflix)
The Menendez brothers get arrested for their parent's murder (Image via Netflix)

Though not completely, it can be considered one of the catalysts that drove the Menendez brothers to commit such a gruesome crime toward their parents, as depicted in The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

According to Robert Rand's book The Menendez Murders, just five days before Jose and Kitty Menendez were tragically shot and killed, Kitty and Lyle Menendez had a bitter fight on August 15, 1989. According to the author, Kitty on Lyle while he tried to defend himself. The fight escalated as Kitty violently ripped the hairpiece right off Lyle's head.

The hairpiece had to be bonded to the crown of Lyle's head with very strong glue, and removing it required a special solvent. Kitty tore the piece off, leaving Lyle writhing in agony. Erik, too, wasn’t aware of this truth about his brother. Lyle admits to Erik that he began losing his hair three years prior, and in an attempt to hide it, his father José purchased the wig for him.

Erik says that this incident was the reason why they decided to kill their parents. This statement was also made during the real court trials of the brothers.


The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is available to stream on Netflix with all its episodes.

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Edited by pshmueni