AP
Before brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez brutally murdered parents Jose and Kitty Menendez, they say they were the victims on ongoing physical and sexual assault.
Speaking out for the first time in over 10 years about the murders, his arrest and prison after getting life behind bars in A&E's documentary series "The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All," Erik gives more insight into their alleged upbringing and how dad Jose would pit the two brothers against each other.
"One of the things my dad would do, he would show us the pressure points. He would have Lyle do the pressure points on me and it would hurt," Erik says in this exclusive TooFab video.
"He would have Lyle continually do it, even though I was in pain. I wouldn't be able to vocalize the pain," he continues. "One time, he felt Lyle was holding back, told Lyle, 'Harder, harder,' and Lyle whispered, 'I'm sorry,' and I screamed out. Lyle stood up, balled his fists and said to dad, 'No!'"
"Dad smacked him across the face and then he said something to this day has always resonated with me," says Erik. "He said, 'I didn't raise you to get weak because you feel another persons pain."
AP
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View StoryErik goes on to accuse Jose finding a way to keep the boys from talking to each other about the abuse each allegedly suffered.
"Mim hitting Lyle was something that he did not just in front of me, he did routinely. He knew that we weren't going to talk about it to each other," says Erik. "The stress and the pain in the household was a secret we didn't share with each other. He made sure that the things that happened to me, they didn't get to Lyle and the things that happened to Lyle, Lyle didn't share with me. There was that sense of isolation."
"The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All" airs Thursdays on A&E.
