Cooper Koch has said that he did not use a prosthetic in his Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story nude scene.
Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story features many shocking moments. Although the drama is based on real events, the series has faced backlash over inaccuracies. Monsters plays into unfounded theories that Lyle and Erik were incestuous and implies that Erik was queer despite the real Erik asserting that he wasn’t gay in interviews.
In one scene, Erik has a sexual encounter in the shower with another inmate and it required actor Cooper Koch to appear fully nude.
Now, Cooper has opened up about filming the scene and revealed that he wasn’t using a prosthetic.
Was the shower scene in Monsters real?
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Cooper Koch reveals he did not use a prosthetic in Monsters shower scene
In Monsters episode 3, there’s a scene in which Erik follows an inmate into the prison showers. As they are showering, Erik and the inmate look at each other and touch themselves. Cooper appears fully nude in the scene.
Appearing on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Cooper said: “Just to say, mine was not a prosthetic.”
“Congratulations Cooper, you’re very blessed aren’t you?” Andy added, before Cooper bashfully replied: “Well… hung.”
When asked, “What’s the scariest thing about showing full-frontal nudity on camera?”, Cooper said he wasn’t really worried about it. He explained: “You know it’s not scary. I would say it’s more uncomfortable at first. It’s more cold. Especially in the shower. It was warm in the beginning.”
Did Erik Menendez have a boyfriend in prison?
As well as sharing a sexual shower with another inmate in Monsters, Erik later tells the inmate that he isn’t gay but he likes the inmate. He also tells his lawyer Leslie Abramson that he had a consensual sexual relationship with another boy when he was a teenager but has conflicted feelings about his sexuality based on his father’s abuse.
Despite these scenes being included in the show, they reportedly did not happen in real life and there’s nothing to suggest that Erik actually had a sexual relationship with a man in prison. At the time, journalists and prosecutors suggested that Erik was gay but Erik shut down the speculation surrounding his sexuality.
In a 1996 interview with Barbara Walters, Erik officially denied being gay. He explained that his court prosecutor suggested that he was gay based on the abuse he experienced but it was homophobic conjecture.
Erik said: “It was upsetting to hear. I’m not gay but a lot of gay people write and feel connected to me.”
