New York - It is more than 20 years since Lorena Bobbitt made herself one of the most talked-about victims of sexual abuse in history by slicing off her husband's penis as he slept, and throwing it into a field.
She was found not guilty of assaulting John Wayne Bobbit; and he was acquitted of the spousal rape on her that she said had made her snap.
He went on to start a rock band and then became an actor in adult movies, to pay his medical bills for the nine-hour operation to reattach his appendage.
He was recently seriously injured in a road accident.
Now, Lorena Bobbitt has reappeared to reveal the life she has built for herself in the years since, her new husband with whom she had a child, and the work she has done establishing a foundation to help abused women and children.
Surprisingly, she also claimed that her ex-husband had repeatedly tried to contact her since that fateful night.
“He tried. But I always deleted his number,” the 46-year-old said, speaking on Steve Harvey's chat show. “I mean, you know, I have my life. I have a new life now and I just want to focus on what is positive, and I have surrounded myself with positive people.”
The woman who leapt unwillingly to international celebrity was charged with malicious wounding, but was acquitted on grounds of temporary insanity. She spent 45 days under psychiatric evaluation.
Appearing on Harvey's show, Bobbitt received rapturous applause from the audience.
“Few tales of lovers who lost it have left a bigger impact than John and Lorena Bobbitt,” said Harvey.
“Their volatile marriage, filled with allegations of abuse and infidelity, came to a gruesome conclusion when, in a fit of rage, Lorena took the one thing most precious to her husband and committed the one act every man fears the most.”
Bobbit told the mainly female audience that she realised her story was more than a little strange, but that it was important to highlight the years of alleged domestic abuse she suffered.
“My body couldn't take it. My mind couldn't take it. I was very scared, so obviously I snapped,” she said. “I cut off his penis because he abused me that much.
“That's what happens when a man pushes a woman so far and so low. I found myself in the street with a penis in one hand and the knife in the other,” Bobbitt said. “So yeah, that happens.”
She said she now lived in Virginia with her second husband, David Bellinger and her 10-year-old daughter, Olivia, and was committed to charity work.
She had founded Lorena's Red Wagon in order to help domestic abuse survivors. “It basically helps women and children through family-oriented activities... I can provide for them.
“When a victim leaves the house they don't have time to pack. They just take the first opportunity they get to leave,” she said.
“If any child in the shelter has a birthday we bring cakes... I want to bring hope to women and children of domestic abuse, and that's what we do.”
The Independent