Lyle Menendez, one-half of the infamous Menendez brothers, shot and killed his parents on August 20, 1989, along with his brother, Erik. They claimed they had suffered years of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their parents, and a part of Lyle’s testimony involved an argument he had with his mom about his wig.
Just five days before Erik and Lyle murdered their parents, Lyle testified that he argued with his mother. The topic of their fight, he said, “definitely at one point had something to do with my hairpiece,” and claimed his mother was “out of control, flailing her arms and screaming” at him. “She reached and she grabbed my hairpiece and she just ripped it off,” he said in the courtroom.
Lyle Menendez wig photos
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“A savage scalping”
Image Credit: Netflix In court, Lyle continued to explain that the forced removal of his toupee was painful because he’d apply it with an adhesive, and you need to use “this blue chemical” to remove it properly. “[My brother] didn’t know I had a hairpiece,” he said. “I was completely embarrassed in front of my brother.”
The scene is depicted in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and takes inspiration from the book, The Menendez Murders
by Robert Rand. “It was his toupee, and it came off like a savage scalping,” Rand wrote. “Removing it, carefully, took a special solvent. When Kitty tore it off, Lyle felt immense pain.” -
“Erik didn’t know”
Image Credit: Photo credit should read MIKE NELSON/AFP via Getty Images As part of the defense’s argument, the moment Kitty ripped off Lyle’s headpiece was a defining moment for the brothers. Lyle was embarrassed that he’d been exposed, and after that revealing moment, Lyle opened up to Erik that their father had been sexually abusing him. And thus, their motive to murder their parents was born.
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“Which one is the one with the wig?”
Image Credit: Getty Images In an article published by Vanity Fair in 2008, the writer described Lyle’s wig as a “state of the art headpiece” and a “virtually undetectable false hair a masterpiece of wigmaking.” They also observed that, when people arrived in the courtroom in 1994 they would ask, “Which one is the one with the wig?”
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The new model
Image Credit: Photo by Kim Kulish/Sygma via Getty Images In the same Vanity Fair article, the journalist details Lyle’s experience shopping for headpieces. He already had a toupee in 1988, but he “was dissatisfied, claiming it shed.” The new one, the piece reported, cost $1,450 (which by today’s standards is almost $4,000) having insisted on 100% human hair. He got $400 (more than $1,000) to trade in the old toupee.
A former employee of Lyle’s said he would often complain about how “hot and perspiry” his wigs were, which prompted the staff member to comment that no one was forcing him to wear it. I have an image to keep up. My father told me I had an image,” Lyle told them.
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5 days after the slayings
Image Credit: Getty Images Lyle ordered his fourth toupee on July 28, 1989, and it was noted on the order that it must be ready by September 3. The grisly murders of Kitty and Jose Menendez took place on August 20 and, Vanity Fair noted, that Lyke returned to the Hair Replacement Center on Wilshire Boulevard in west Los Angeles five days after the slayings for an adjustment. He wore a baseball cap to cover his baldness while the work was being done.
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Why was Lyle bald?
Image Credit: Photo by Kypros/Getty Images Lyle reportedly noticed he was losing his hair at around age 14, it’s believed his hair loss was due to stress owing to the abuse suffered at the hands of his parents, but that fact has never been confirmed.
