‘I had a Vanity Fair photoshoot after I cut off husband’s penis’ | World | News

In an act that would “send a chill through every man in the world”, one wife reached her breaking point when her husband came home after a night of drinking.

Using only the light from their refrigerator, Lorena Bobbitt seized a knife and severed her husband’s penis.

Hospital staff were left in shock when John Wayne Bobbitt stumbled into the A&E at 5am, his hands and lower body drenched in blood.

Beneath the crimson sheet, John had “just testicles where the penis would have been, a red substance. It looked like a nice, even, straight cut,” testified police officer Cecil Deane. One constable refused to touch John’s “appendage” when he eventually located it.

James Sehn, the surgeon who managed to restore his patient’s ability to urinate normally, said men feel “emasculated” by the story, reports the Mirror.

According to critic Camille Paglia, it served as a “wake-up call”, adding “it has to send a chill through every man in the world.”

At the time, Lorena Bobbitt featured in a double-page spread for Vanity Fair. More recently, she has produced her own documentary telling the story from her viewpoint.

Lorena, now known as Lorena Gallo, was just 24 when a long period of alleged domestic abuse culminated in what her lawyers termed an act of self-defence.

She encountered John after moving to America at just 17 to live with family. He joined her at her table when she visited a club for enlisted men.

John was well-groomed, and by many accounts, attractive.

Lorena told Vanity Fair: “My English wasn’t too good, so I really feel frustrated because I guess he couldn’t understand me. And I couldn’t understand him either. He mumbles.”

The pair had a relationship whilst she was 21 and he was 26, before tying the knot.

Lorena claims that merely a month after their wedding, the first alleged incident of violence occurred.

Lorena explained to John she wished to accompany him and his cousin, who struggled with addiction issues.

During their journey home, she alleges John sped dangerously.

Lorena said: “I said to him ‘Oh my God, we’re going to crash,’ and he would do it on purpose. I hold the steering wheel very tight and John would push me. I said, ‘John, don’t do that.’ That’s when he hit me the first time. He punched me. I was crying the whole time.”

She maintains this marked the beginning of a catalogue of alleged violence.

Upon returning home, she alleged John assaulted her further.

She said: “He grabbed my hair and slapped me, he kicked me to the wall.”

During another confrontation concerning a Christmas tree, Lorena claimed: “He started using some technique that he teaches the Marines. That hurts a lot because my arm was twisted. He was just hitting me. Hitting me in my chest, my arms.”

John’s solicitor Greg Murphy refuted the allegation.

On one occasion in February 1991, following her contacting police on successive days, Lorena lodged a formal complaint alleging John had strangled her.

John responded by claiming she had struck him in the groin.

Both cases were thrown out. Their neighbour, Ken, a pastor, said he tried to counsel John but added: “I will extend a helping hand to people that respond to it. But there is a quote from the Bible ‘don’t cast your pearls before swine.”

Lorena bought a tape recorder and used it to collect sufficient evidence of his abuse for divorce proceedings. John discovered the device and Lorena said he assaulted her.

John recalled the row over the tape, but denied attacking or raping Lorena.

At this stage, Lorena said the pressure of her circumstances had begun to impact everything. She said: “I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. People were complaining about my work.”

She visited her doctor, who referred her to a women’s abuse hotline.

Lorena says she spoke to someone who advised her to obtain a protective order to keep John away from her.

Lorena said she recalls awakening between 3am and 3:30am and asked John if he had been to work that day. “No, I went out,” he said.

He later told police he had been pub-crawling and he had consumed five beers and several shots.

Lorena returned to sleep but then provides a disturbing account of what she says occurred next.

She said: “The next thing I remember, he was on top of me. I said, ‘No, get off of me. I don’t want to have sex.’ And he wouldn’t get off of me. … I was fighting and I just grabbed my pants. … I heard my underwear rip. And his chest was really on me. And he’s heavy. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t scream. … I couldn’t even move.”

She said he continued to rape her. She ventured into the kitchen for a glass of water.

“The refrigerator light was on,” she recalls. “The door was really wide open. … It was just so many things together. I was scared. … I was physically hurt. I was feeling hurt. I don’t know. It was everything together. I couldn’t describe it. I don’t know the words to describe it. . . . The first thing I saw was a knife, when I turned. I grabbed that knife and, um, I went to the bedroom, and, and he was there, I guess, and he kind of, like, moved or something. I don’t know. And I took the sheets off and I cut him.

“I remember many things. I was thinking many things. I was thinking the first time he hit me. I was thinking when he raped me. I was thinking so many things, just really quick. I don’t know. … I just wanted him to disappear. I just wanted him to leave me alone, to leave my life alone. I don’t want to see him anymore.”

Lorena admitted she “cut” John. “I remember when I screamed, I saw, I saw that thing. And so I remembered what I saw then and I said I realised that was what I cut. “.

Lorena sought advice from her boss who suggested she should inform the police. Upon arriving at the station, the police enquired about the location of the “body part”.

“I just said the body part was close to the stop sign at 7-Eleven somewhere. I threw it away. I screamed when I threw it away. I mean, I screamed.”

John’s response took many by surprise. He had been boasting to neighbours and locals at the pub that he was on the brink of wealth and fame.

He even joked about having an 11-inch member, down from his usual claim of 12 inches. However, Lorena’s lawyer, Jim Lowe, dismissed this figure, stating “the photograph did not reveal anything of that magnitude.”

Lorena, however, claimed she was left deeply traumatised. “I have bad dreams,” she confessed.

“Sometimes I wake up shaking. And when I wake up, I say, ‘Oh my God, this is not over..”

In the aftermath of Lorena’s allegations, John was charged with marital sexual assault, a crime carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years. John maintained that he had no recollection of having sex on the night of June 23 and vehemently denied all accusations of abuse and rape.

His trial, which was not broadcast, lasted two days. He was acquitted on November 11, 1993, as reported by The New York Times.

Lorena, whose trial was televised, continues to reside in Manassas with her daughter and partner of over two decades, according to TIME.

She has become a champion for victims of domestic violence and founded the Lorena Gallo Foundation, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to preventing domestic violence and sexual assault in Virginia. Meanwhile, John pursued a career in the adult film industry.

“One of my missions is to educate the public and young women about the red flags in dating an abuser. I go to colleges and talk to sororities,” she revealed to TIME in 2018.