Monster's Cooper Koch Reveals Why He Wears a Wedding Ring (and No, He's Not Married!)

Mar. 15, 2025

Cooper Kochisn’t married, but he proudly wears a ring on his left finger.

While appearing on the Oct. 16 episode of Sirius XM’sAndy Cohen Live, theMonsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Storyactor revealed why he wore a wedding ring despite not being married.

After hostAndy Cohenquestioned him about the piece of jewelry, which sparked fans' interest earlier this week after an appearance onWatch What Happens Live, Koch explained that he was planning accompanying his brother Payton to the Emmy Awards when he was looking for accessories to complete his look. (Payton had been nominated for his editing on Hulu’sOnly Murders In The Building.)

“We were getting ready and I didn’t have any jewelry on,” he recalled. “And I was with my boyfriend and we went into my room and I was looking through my jewelry, and I had this ring that was my grandfather’s, and I was like, ‘Oh, I should just wear this ring,’ and then we just like put it on my ring finger and it just kind of became this little like, I don’t know, romantic, protective mechanism.”

Cooper Koch (left) and his brother Payton Koch.Amanda Edwards/Getty

Amanda Edwards/Getty

“I just wanted to like trip people out a little bit and see what they would say,” Koch added.

While his boyfriend doesn’t wear a ring on his left finger, the actor assured fans that his partner was “very much committed to me as much as I am to him.”

“We have talked about that, and we do need to get him a ring, but it’s really more of just like a nice totem,” he smiled.

Cooper Koch.Kevin Winter/Getty

Kevin Winter/Getty

Since the release ofMonsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Storyin late September, Koch has become a breakout star in theRyan Murphy-led crime series. The Netflix show tells the real-life story of Erik (Koch) and Lyle Menéndez (Nicholas Alexander Chavez)’s murder of their parentsJosé and Mary Louse “Kitty” Menéndez. It then follows them into the subsequent trial in the early ’90s.

The brothers murdered their parents in their family home in Beverly Hills in August 1989, withLyle later calling 911sobbing about finding their parents dead when they returned home from a movie.

While many have praised Koch and Chavez’s performances in the drama, the series has faced backlash from not only the public but also the real-life Menéndez brothers for its portrayal of them.

Miles Crist/Netflix

At the time, Koch reacted to the criticism and toldVarietythat he understood where people are coming from.

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“In terms of approaching him and approaching the part, I just really wanted to do as much research and dig really deep into myself to really portray him with integrity and just be as authentic as possible to support him and also to support his family and all the people who stand with him,” Koch added.

source: people.com