FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST: The Bobbitt affair, 25 years later
Brad Hunter
Published:
January 4, 2019
Updated:
January 4, 2019 2:06 PM EST
John Wayne Bobbitt, whose ex-wife Lorena chopped off his penis with a kitchen knife while he slept, with a number of porn stars celebrating the release of his first adult opus. POSTMEDIA
It was the cut heard around the world.
Twenty-five years since John Wayne Bobbitt’s appendage was lopped off by his crazed wife Lorena, a new special on ABC’s 20/20 revisits the case.
What started as a bizarre local story ended up making international headlines and kept the gruesome twosome in the news for months.
“It touches every single Shakespearean theme. Love, lust, betrayal, conflict, drama. This had it all, including violence,” former tabloid TV host Maury Povich told ABC.
As Bobbitt slept that night in his Manassas, Va.home, Lorena attacked him.
Using a kitchen knife, she cut off his penis and tossed it into a snowbank, where paramedics found it. Doctors were able to reattach the discarded appendage.
“Initially the story was local news, kind of like a freak occurrence, but it became a sensation and quickly,” Vanity Fair contributing editor Lili Anolik said.
“The public couldn’t get enough.”
John Bobbitt, now 51, called the member mangling incident “a nightmare.”
“I cleared my thoughts, applied pressure. I went to wake my friend up to tell him to get me to the hospital,” he said, recalling his first moments sans penis.
Lorena Bobbitt talks to her lawyer during her 1994 trial for cutting off her husband’s penis. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
When he saw his injuries, the former Marine said he started “going crazy.” At first, doctors thought he’d slashed his wrist.
But when they saw what actually had happened, their “jaws dropped.”
Doctors were able to reattach Bobbitt’s penis — kept on ice in a hot dog box by helpful cops — in a nine-hour operation.
They did such a good job that for a brief time Bobbitt starred in a number of porn films, including John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut and Frankenpenis.
A still from Frankenpenis, which also starred Ron Jeremy.
Lorena Bobbitt claimed her husband was physically and sexually abusive. She now goes by the name Lorena Gallo and runs a charity that fights domestic violence.
“I didn’t want to teach him a lesson,” Gallo told Vanity Fair in August. “No, it was survival. Life and death. I was fearing for my life.”
She was acquitted because of temporary insanity and served 45 days in a mental institution. John Wayne Bobbitt was acquitted in another trial of raping her.
“I couldn’t believe it, how could someone get away with it,” John Bobbitt told ABC News.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/first-cut-is-the-deepest-the-bobbitt-affair-25-years-later
Brad Hunter
Published:
January 4, 2019
Updated:
January 4, 2019 2:06 PM EST
John Wayne Bobbitt, whose ex-wife Lorena chopped off his penis with a kitchen knife while he slept, with a number of porn stars celebrating the release of his first adult opus. POSTMEDIA
It was the cut heard around the world.
Twenty-five years since John Wayne Bobbitt’s appendage was lopped off by his crazed wife Lorena, a new special on ABC’s 20/20 revisits the case.
What started as a bizarre local story ended up making international headlines and kept the gruesome twosome in the news for months.
“It touches every single Shakespearean theme. Love, lust, betrayal, conflict, drama. This had it all, including violence,” former tabloid TV host Maury Povich told ABC.
As Bobbitt slept that night in his Manassas, Va.home, Lorena attacked him.
Using a kitchen knife, she cut off his penis and tossed it into a snowbank, where paramedics found it. Doctors were able to reattach the discarded appendage.
“Initially the story was local news, kind of like a freak occurrence, but it became a sensation and quickly,” Vanity Fair contributing editor Lili Anolik said.
“The public couldn’t get enough.”
John Bobbitt, now 51, called the member mangling incident “a nightmare.”
“I cleared my thoughts, applied pressure. I went to wake my friend up to tell him to get me to the hospital,” he said, recalling his first moments sans penis.
Lorena Bobbitt talks to her lawyer during her 1994 trial for cutting off her husband’s penis. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
When he saw his injuries, the former Marine said he started “going crazy.” At first, doctors thought he’d slashed his wrist.
But when they saw what actually had happened, their “jaws dropped.”
Doctors were able to reattach Bobbitt’s penis — kept on ice in a hot dog box by helpful cops — in a nine-hour operation.
They did such a good job that for a brief time Bobbitt starred in a number of porn films, including John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut and Frankenpenis.
A still from Frankenpenis, which also starred Ron Jeremy.
Lorena Bobbitt claimed her husband was physically and sexually abusive. She now goes by the name Lorena Gallo and runs a charity that fights domestic violence.
“I didn’t want to teach him a lesson,” Gallo told Vanity Fair in August. “No, it was survival. Life and death. I was fearing for my life.”
She was acquitted because of temporary insanity and served 45 days in a mental institution. John Wayne Bobbitt was acquitted in another trial of raping her.
“I couldn’t believe it, how could someone get away with it,” John Bobbitt told ABC News.