United Kingdom, April 23 -- Rosie O'Donnell says convicted murderer Lyle Menendez helped change her autistic child's life.

The 63-year-old comedian felt like she "was kicked in the stomach" when 12-year-old Clay - who adopted a gender-neutral name after coming out as non-binary - was diagnosed with autism in 2010 but she was encouraged to get a service dog by Menendez, who along is serving a life sentence without parole for murdering his parents Jose and Kitty in 1989.

Rosie - who added a pooch named Kuma to her family in January - told the US TV show 'Extra': "I did not know, as the mother of an autistic child who was diagnosed at two years old, I didn't know they had service dogs.

"[Clay] became very disconnected from everyone, [Clay...