ROY Rosello was a member of the hit Puerto Rican boyband Menudo in the 1980s and he made headlines again, in 2023, when he accused the Menendez brothers’ father of sexual assault.
Public interest in the Menendez brothers’ case has surged after a letter detailing Erik’s abuse by his father resurfaced and after their crime was dramatized on Netflix by Ryan Murphy.
Boyband success
Roy Rosello was born on May 1, 1970 and began performing from a young age.
In 1983, he joined the hit Puerto Rican boyband Menudo which starred young singers and catapulted them to fame.
The line-up changed regularly as the members grew up and the band, at one point, even starred pop icon Ricky Martin.
They sold over 20 million records and have had 40 members star in their line-up.
Eventually, Roy left the band in 1986.
In 2023, he claimed that he had been sexually assaulted by José Menendez while he was still a member of Menudo.
The Menendez brothers’ case
On August 20, 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez murdered their parents and went on to live a lavish lifestyle, using their inheritance.
After Erik confessed to his therapist, whose mistress then told the police about the crime, the brothers were arrested.
While in court, the Menendez brothers claimed that they had killed their parents after years of sexual abuse perpetrated by their father.
Their cousin, Andy Cano, testified at the trial and claimed that Erik had told him about the abuse when he was 13.
Eventually, the brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole after their first trial ended in a hung jury and their second had restrictions, which limited discussions of the alleged sexual assault.
After their crime and subsequent trial were dramatized in Ryan Murphy’s Monster series, a retrial was ordered into the Menendez brothers’ case.
A letter from Erik to his cousin Andy will be examined, that details the alleged abuse from his father.
The letter read: “I’ve been trying to avoid dad.
It’s still happening Andy, but it’s worse for me now.
I can’t explain it.
He’s so overweight that I can’t stand to see him.
I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy.
Every night, I stay up thinking he might come in.
I need to put it out of my mind.”
Roy’s life after Menudo
Roy’s star continued to rise after he left Menudo, which had reached global success while he was a member.
He toured America in 1987 and appeared in a hit movie named Star of the Jungle.
He also started hosting the Brazillian TV show Frente Jovem in 1986, which began a lifelong connection to Brazil for the singer.
It was in Brazil that he reunited with his long-lost daughter on a TV show in 2003.
His daughter, Bianca, was the result of a fling that the star had with a Brazilian fan, in 1985, and reuniting with her made Roy fall in love with the country even more.
Bianca is one of Roy’s five children, whom he had with five different mothers.
The Menudo singer has been married several times.
He now owns a Caribbean-themed bar in Campinas, which he runs alongside a jewelry store named Roy Rosello Fine Jewellery.
