oh, gosh. [ chuckles ] what an idiot. lorena's act was a fundamental attack on a man's manhood. >> i was crying. i said, i don't want to have sex. >> she said, i'm going to do something to him right now where he'll never do that to me again. >> i cut him. >> she does the deed. i never thought i would say that for network television. she just -- >> she came off as a sweet girl. a sweet, innocent girl doesn't cut a man's penis off. >> what? . >> quite the story. >> you see her as the first. the pioneer of the me too movement. >> me too. >> we do look at lorena bobbitt

much differently now. the plight of women in abusive relationships. >> there were all kinds of feminist protesters going snip, snip, snip. >> if she had just stabbed him to death, we never would have heard of her. ♪ tainted love >> it's been through the ringer. >> what do you need? >> mark. >> john, are you okay to do the interview without your glasses? >> can i read the questions first? >> no, you can't read the questions first! >> why? >> 'cause that's not how it works. >> it's all a matter of what you believe. you know, i want people to understand the story, the whole story. the truth to the whole story. the whole story was a coverup. the whole court case.

lorena getting off on her charge was a big coverup. >> okay. go for it. we'll start where you want to start. what was a coverup? ♪ >> it's one of the most talked about stories of the year. >> the case has struck a nerve. >> the sordid details of a marriage gone berserk. >> the bobbitts could only get more attention if they were starring in a tv movie. >> this case won't go away. it continues to -- to be in the public's mind. >> it really took the world by storm. >> the 24-year-old manicurist from venezuela is accused of severing the penis of her husband, 26-year-old john bobbitt, while he was sleeping. >> from the moment anyone heard about this story, it was, "what?" because it's mythic. >> lorena's act was a fundamental attack on a man's manhood. it caught everyone's attention. >> and the first thing everyone wanted to know was, why? what drove her to it?

>> describing what happened and what people have heard are two different things. her defense that she came out with was that he had raped and abused her. >> i feel humiliated. how much more do i have to put up with this? >> that seems to be the simplest of narratives. >> the call, she cut off his penis, it took on a life of it own. >> it's a story that has fascinated and divided america. >> do you believe him or do you believe her? >> what about when he was beating her up and raping her? no one cared then. >> i do think men and women see this very differently. many women see it as a woman abused to such a degree that she struck out at the area that was doing her the most harm. >> the symbolic power of that act remains to this day frightening. and alive. and real. it's kind of the ultimate

violence in the battle of the sexes that goes on every single day. >> sure, there was a battle of the sexes going on then. as there is now. we're in the middle of me too. time's up. >> when is this going to end? >> what's changed? >> it's the story making headlines in every hometown newspaper. couldn't believe it. never heard of it before. and then, of course, the fact that lorena threw it out a window. >> i always tell my friends, make sure you're sleeping on your belly if you get in an argument with your wife. it's not bad thing to do. >> the bobbitt case flirted with low culture. it disarmed high culture. you'll find references in the philip roth novels. in eminem lyrics. ♪ >> in the movie "fight club." >> you know, man, it could be worse. a woman could cut off your penis

while you're sleeping and toss it out the window of a moving car. >> there's always that. >> you could almost put the story terms of of time in the middle of bookends. the bookends being the amy fisher/joey buttafuoco story. and six months later after the bobbitt story was o.j. and the white bronco. right in the middle was lorena and john. >> it's been 25 years. even today, i imagine, if you walk into a store, hand somebody your credit card, you say your name. you get a reaction? >> i still get shocked or startled or wow. you're the guy? you're the guy? yeah. >> let's go back to the beginning. tell me where you grew up. >> niagara falls, new york. born and raised there. when i was 3, i was taken away from my mother. >> his mother was a drug addict, living on the street and not capable of taking care of him.

his father pretty much disappeared, didn't really know his father. and he and his two brothers were taken in by their aunt and uncle who already had four boys. >> my mother couldn't take care of us three, she had a mental breakdown. i mean, she was a nice lady. she tried to take care of all three of us, but she couldn't. >> my name is brett biro and i'm john wayne bobbitt's brother. john is actually my cousin, but my parents took him in at a young age. so if you were to ask me again, who is john? john is my brother. that's the way we were raised. >> your uncle and your aunt took you in. how would you describe your childhood? >> big family. a lot of get-togethers. we went to church every sunday. >> was there love in your home? >> yeah, a lot of love. yeah. a lot of fighting. but i was always the one to break it up. you know? i was the peacemaker. >> what made you decide to want to become a marine? >> my friends joinedhe marines. and i said, oh, i'll join.

something i wanted to do. >> and it was at a singles dance that you met lorena? >> yeah. marine corps ball. fancy uniforms and it was at a marine corps officers' club. >> lorena bobbitt is born in ecuador. she is raised in venezuela. she becomes besotted with america, the america you see on kind of television and our movies. >> i remember she said she watched "the flintstones" in venezuela and even the flintstones had a microwave and they were just middle class people. and that represented something to her. >> in an exclusive interview with tom jarriel, lorena bobbitt, the woman who did the unthinkable, gives some answers. >> i always have this sensation that to come to america is just like a big opportunity. that this is gonna be the beginning of something. >> she wants to come to this country, and she does, on a student visa. she enrolls in a community college. >> lorena always talked about her american dream. and john, when you saw him in

those days, in his uniform and stuff, he fit the profile of the good-looking marine. >> lorena meets john at a dance. the way lorena tells the story, there's tremendous physical chemistry. she finds him very handsome. >> he was a very nice guy. and we started dating. and that's how i really fell in love with him. >> she was swept off her feet. >> tell me what you thought when you first saw lorena. >> i was there with a friend and saw her over there. and she looks -- you know, shy and innocent. and i went over there and asked her to dance. so then -- she can bare -- she can bare -- barely speak english. so i couldn't understand what she was saying at the time. so i go, here's my number. >> lorena said he was an

absolute gentleman. there was no indication of any violence or aggressive behavior toward her while they were courting. >> what was your dream at that point? >> at that point, it was more like, have a house, like a -- you know, it doesn't have to be big or something. just have a little -- and have children and, of course, have a husband. >> they talked about getting married, but that marriage got rushed when her green card or visa or whatever was running out. >> he tells me that lorena proposed to him, and that it was in a restaurant, her mother was present, she was crying. >> they were suggesting that we get married because her visa was expiring. >> so this was a marriage of -- >> convenience. >> convenience. >> right. >> and not one of love? did you love her? >> well, i thought i did. >> lorena presented as kind of the chemistry is great. it's whirlwind. it's fast. and john proposes to her.

>> i was pressured, i guess. had to bite the bullet, i guess. get married. >> both john and lorena agree that the marriage went into the toilet fast. >> he was like, i guess, different after we got married. >> lorena has said that you were physically abusive to her. >> she said that john essentially became a monster essentially became a monster after he said i do. and now? la di da, what do we have here? it's everywhere. ♪ ♪ all because of four filthy numbers... 1 8 5 0. ♪ ♪ how do you explain this? what am i, a professor in explanation? ♪ ♪ oh, this one's been cut with starbucks. it's not pure 1850. arrestingly bold, yet smooth. drop the carafe! 1850 coffee.

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♪ this incident happened in manassas, virginia. >> we have half a million people here. it's a suburb of washington, d.c. >> manassas is now, 25 years later, much, much larger. but at the time, it was a nice bedroom community type place. >> it does have the advantage of being next door to the first battlefield of the civil war, bull run. >> well, it used to be known for its civil war history.

now it's known for the bobbitts. >> how did you feel on your wedding day? do you remember? >> i was happy. we had just got dressed up and went down to the justice of the peace and had a small wedding. >> the first time i met her she came off as a sweet, little venezuelan girl, and they're happy. a sweet, little innocent girl doesn't cut a man's penis off. >> i never really expected to have a perfect marriage. but i knew there's things that, you know, you can compromise and you cope. >> i think the marriage started off fine while john was still in the marines. i think the problem evolved when his enlistment was up. >> in 1991, john gets discharged from the marine corps, so he is kind of without a steady paycheck.

and he scraps, and he tries. he's not a deadbeat, but he seems to have trouble kind of holding down jobs. lorena is the main breadwinner. >> what was lorena doing for a living? >> she was working as nanny for janna. and she ended up, you know, working at the beauty salon, doing nails. >> janna bisutti was a business woman who owned the nail cuttery. >> janna was maybe a little bit of a mother figure at that point. lorena had oftentimes seemed to have cried on janna's shoulder and janna seems to have tried to protect her. >> she said she loved him and she wanted her marriage to work. she was going to do anything to try to make her marriage work. >> janna was successful and had kind of a swanky house, and she had fancy cars and she had a boat. and john feels that their troubles began when lorena began hankering after these kind of material possessions. that's what an american dream meant to lorena. >> we started off in a studio

apartment we could have -- which we could afford. we were young. we should have worked our way up. but no, she wanted more, more, more. so we went from a studio to a luxury apartment and we had two new cars. >> so you were living way outside your means. way above your means? >> way. >> what would you be fighting about? >> tv. radio. stupid stuff. you know? we were young. just fought over things that we shouldn't have fighting over. she was stubborn. she was selfish. and she wanted things her way. >> they were a couple who were tempestuous. they were tempestuous in their loves, they were tempestuous in their jealousies, they were tempestuous in their fights. >> how soon did you feel he began getting beyond speaking? becoming physically abusive to you? >> like, a month after we got married. >> one month into the marriage. >> yes, yes.

he was driving on the highway, he start to driving like a zig-zag, and driving very fast, very fast. and i was scared, i said, "i'm scared, please don't drive like that." and i hold the steering wheel so it can go straight. and he punch me. >> hard? >> yes, really hard. i was crying. i was very shocked. yes. that somebody hit me like that, especially from my husband, somebody that i marry him, and i love him. >> she was astonished by that, 'cause that was something that was -- she was unfamiliar with in the relationship leading up to the marriage. she'd never seen that side of john. >> there was a big jealousy factor that set in. she knew john was good-looking, that women might come on to him. >> she got upset if anybody talked to me. any girl i -- or some girl -- i

looked in the girl's direction, she would get mad. she'd punch me. >> she punched you? >> yeah. >> how often did she hit you? >> a lot. you know, she'd get mad. she was just a very jealous person. very possessive. did not want anybody around me. i think she was always afraid someone was gonna take me away from her. like i was her prize. and i'm -- you know, "this is my man. this is my marine. this is my ticket." >> he would say to me every time that he was mad at me, he said, "once a marine, always a marine." i remember one time i was laying on the floor, he was actually choking me. and i was crying, and i was -- i couldn't breathe. >> reporter: lorena has said that you were physically abusive to her. >> yeah. well, it's easy to turn things

around. i could say she was physically abusive to me. she never went to the hospital. never had anything seriously wrong with her at all. a lot of turmoil. it wasn't, like, we were out to kill each other. >> you never fought back? >> i tried, you know, to subdue her or restrain her. not to hit her. >> the pushing, shoving, a punch here, punch there. and then she said it -- it carried over into the bedroom, that he seemed to be very stimulated, excited by violent sex. >> he forced me into sex. he told me that he was -- that that kind of sexual sex, forced sex, excited him. and i would just cry. >> like so many of the

accusations that fly back and forth between lorena and john, this one is hard to reconcile. john denies he was ever excited by violent sex. >> why not have left him early on when you saw this terrible situation you were in? >> i feel like i don't want to fail into the marriage. i'm catholic. and i don't believe in divorce. i will like to work it out. >> what came between them was even more poison and toxic in a relationship that was already falling apart. my psoriatic arthritis pain? i had enough! it's not getting in my way. joint pain, swelling, tenderness... ...much better. my psoriasis, clearer... cosentyx works on all of this. four years and counting. so watch out. i got this!

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when lorena talks about her marriage with john, it's a nightmare from beginning to end. it's actually very hard to imagine how they lasted four years together. >> he hurt me and my lip was bleeding. and i had bruises. >> john maintains that he never hit her but he admits that he might have kind of pushed her a little, or that when he was restraining her, he might have been rough. >> if we get in a fight, and you

jump on me and start hitting me, and i try to subdue you, you're gonna end up getting some type -- type of injury, like a bruise or fat lip. >> what's your definition of spousal abuse? >> oh, it could be anything. it could be punching a hole in a wall. you know, verbal abuse. you know, calling somebody a slut or a whore, or a tramp. >> reporter: did you do any of those things? in moments of anger? did you push her, shove her? >> yeah, we fought. >> but that's not spousal abuse? >> i think that's fighting with each other. >> but you said you were strong. abnormally strong. >> of course i wouldn't hit her. i would try to restrain her. >> did it leave marks when you restrained her? >> of course. i mean, i may have marks on me, but i didn't flaunt them. >> i'm sure there was more problems, screaming, yelling, arguments, that's just the way that lorena was. ve seen her stab him with a fork in the hand. he said that she came after him

with a pair of scissors. if that happened then, i'm sure it happened before. >> the two called 911 on each other quite frequently. he calls it on her, she called it on him. >> he said that the police will not listen to me because we're married. >> we had responded to complaints of domestic violence at their residence about half a dozen times in the past few years. only in one instance were charges brought. we arrested john and charged him with assault and battery, and he got a cross-warrant against lorena, and had her charged with assault and battery. one of the charges was null-crossed. and the other one dismissed. >> there was very little difference in what they said. they had a history of abusive conduct with each other. >> lorena gets into trouble

apart from john. >> there were a couple of incidents that were very important to john. and placed a great deal of stress. not just the altercations about fighting. but what they were fighting about. he found that she went and shoplifted. >> she stole a couple of dresses from nordstrom. she was caught, she had to do community service. >> the more egregious offense was, while working with janna, she embezzled over $7,000. and john was furious about that. >> lorena would say that she did these things because money was such an issue, and john wasn't pulling his weight. >> janna, her boss at the nail salon, figured out that money was missing. and made her pay it back with interest. with a pretty high interest, if i remember. so i guess they worked it out between the two of them, but it's not as though lorena had nothing but this unblemished past. >> she abused janna bisutti by stealing all that money. she didn't need to do that.

especially with somebody we -- who, like, brought her in. gave her a job. fed her. and we were close friend of hers. >> in the course of your marriage, did you become pregnant by john? >> yes, i did. i was very excited because, i mean, i wanted to have a child. >> what did he say, do you remember? >> he said that i would not be able to raise a child for some reason. i said, i think i will be a wonderful mother. >> we weren't ready anyways. so i suggested we should wait. she wasn't happy about it, but you know, what can you do? >> he will said that i have to do something about it. and i said, what do you mean?

and he suggested some -- that people, they have abortions in clinics. and things like that, and i was just so sad. and i just couldn't believe what he was saying. >> did you have the abortion for him? >> yes. >> you felt you would lose him without it? >> i don't want to have a child without a father. >> what in the world? she's married. why would she want an abortion? catholic girl? good girl? >> she never recovered from the trauma of an abortion that she wasn't completely on board for. and she carried the terrible trauma for her, the guilt, from her culture, from who she was as

a person of having an abortion right up into the moment that she picked up that knife. >> how often did you say no to his sexual advances? did he physically and sexually abuse you? >> it was frequently. it was every time he will hit me, he will just try to force me into the sex again. >> did you equate this with rape as you knew the word? >> yes. in many occasions, i said, i think you are raping me. this is not what you're supposed to do to me. >> the idea of marital rape just didn't connect. i mean, you said, i do. doesn't that mean you're gonna? >> in the days just before the attack, the cutting, she was falling apart in ways that she was sharing. she went to a neighbor. >> just before this happened, i had talked to her. she said what was happening to her. it was raping her. after she said rape, i had literature on that.

domestic violence, too. i gave her two articles on that. >> she was beginning, at work, to have problems. she's been doing nails for years. and she does a beautiful job. about a couple weeks before this happened, i was getting complaints. i never had complaints before. she was shaking. >> i would wake up shaking and scared. and i would have nightmares. so i went to the doctor's and they advised me to get a protective order. i went to get the protective order because i was scared. and i didn't want to be hurt by him again. >> the tensions are building and building and building in this marriage. >> i said, "what you did to me

was not fair, you hurt me." >> she was having a major depressive episode. she was having a breakdown. it had just gotten to be too much for her. >> he pushed me away. and he said leave me alone. i don't want to hear anything. just leave me alone. >> this was a woman at the edge. >> and she goes to the kitchen for that glass of water, and there she spots that knife. you want to wear always seem to need an iron? next time try bounce wrinkle guard dryer sheets. just toss it in the dryer to bounce out wrinkles. we dried these shorts with bounce wrinkle guard, and a pair without. the bounce wrinkle guard shorts have fewer wrinkles and static, and more softness. it's the world's first mega sheet that does the job of three dryer sheets. it also comes in unscented. if you don't love bounce wrinkle guard, we'll give you your money back. it's time for the great winter clearance dash! by sam smith] get up to 70% off clearance apparel, shoes, and more.

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♪ the day before the attack, she went to the police. she went to the police and she said, i want a protective order against my husband. and they said, okay, well, sit down, this is gonna take a little while. we're gonna process it, we're gonna get this thing done. we want to protect you. and she was not able to wait. >> he told me that it would be

ready three hours later. and i said i didn't really want to wait three hours. i have things to do. >> john had already, i think the week prior, said, look, this is not working out. and so i'm going to get a divorce. >> that hurt her. it hit her like a ton of bricks. she was crying and she was begging. she said she didn't believe in divorce. but i said, it's pointless. i mean, what's the point of staying married? you're not happy. i'm not happy. >> i think at that point in time was when lorena really realized that her american dream was about to end. and i think that that kind of set lorena off. >> there was some discussion about who would take over the apartment. he said he would bring his friend down who would live with him. and she was to move out. >> the day before the incident takes place, a friend of john's, robert johnston from buffalo, comes and stays with the couple.

>> me and robbie said, well, since, you know, you're here, let's go out and have some fun. ♪ let's go hang out and i'll show you around, you know, d.c. we went out and had drinks. we hang out and meet people and talk and have a good time. and then late in the morning we head home. >> when he returned, i was asleep. and he wake me up because he slammed the door. >> the last thing she did that night, she had some literature on rape that she had read that night and put it on the nightstand and gone to sleep. and he comes in, loaded to the gills with alcohol. and he decides to crawl in bed, help himself, because, you know, that's my wife. >> was she asleep? did you see her at all when you got in?

>> she was in bed. laying there. and i folded my clothes up and went to bed. >> did you speak at all to lorena before you went to sleep? >> no, sound asleep. >> did you have sex with her that night? >> there was some petting going on. >> but no sex? >> no sex. i remember her trying to, you know, play with me. you know. but i was sleeping. i was exhausted. and i couldn't -- i couldn't respond to her advances either sexually or verbally. >> he just went to bed. >> when did you know that he was awake? >> he jump on top of me and he start to grabbing my arms really tight, like before he always do.

and so i said, i don't want to have sex. and i was trying to push him, but i couldn't. he forced me to. and i heard my underwear was ripping off. and i was just fighting it. it feels like i was fighting everything. >> so you say she was trying to have sex with you, and you were too tired? >> right. >> that's a pretty big swing from her saying you forcibly tore off her underwear and raped her. >> yeah. everything was done in my sleep. the sexual advances, the talking all in a deep sleep. >> but you say you didn't rape her -- >> never raped anybody in my life. >> is it possible that you were trying to have sex with her and she didn't want to have sex? >> no idea what happened. didn't know what transpired there. >> he assaults her and she's just laying there thinking, not again. and she went into the kitchen to

get a glass of water. and she saw the knife. >> it was so many things coming into my mind. i don't know how to describe. things like from the very first day he hit me. things about the abortion. so many things where he was torturing me, when he was beating me up. when he has forced sex with me, everything, it just came so fast. >> this guy comes in, invades her space. invades her body. and does it again. and she said, i'm gonna do something to him right now where he'll never do that to me again. >> i pick up the knife and i went back to the bedroom. i took the sheets off.

and i cut him. >> did he scream out? did he say anything? did he reach for the knife? do you remember? >> no, no, everything just went fast. >> he described it as the silent scream. he didn't say anything. >> when i sprung up and i was bleeding, i was applying pressure, then immediately i thought it was something out of a horror movie. >> it was a nightmare. but it was real. >> turned into reality. horrified. terrified. i was gonna die. that was it. gonna die. >> she flees the apartment. in her left hand, she has the penis. in her right hand, she has the knife. and drives off into the night.

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i'm a urologist. and i enjoyed a very quiet life at prince william hospital in manassas, virginia. all that changed for me june 23rd, in 1993. the phone at my bedside woke me up in the middle of the night, and really all i knew about this on the way into the hospital was that a penis had been amputated, and the organ was missing. >> what's the first thing you did when you woke up? >> i cleared my thoughts and applied pressure, and i went in to wake my friend up, to tell him to get me to the hospital. >> you weren't yelling or screaming? like, help me. we have to go to the hospital right now? >> no, he was. as soon as he saw the blood everywhere. he was going crazy and drove me to the hospital. and got there within ten minutes. it was a nightmare. walking into the hospital, the doctors, you know, looking at me. show me your wrist. >> the emergency room physician comes in, looks at john's hands and wrists and says, there's no cut there.

and of course john knew there was no cut there. and he goes, where's all the blood coming from? and john points down below. >> he had nothing more than a sheet covering him, and then the sheet fell away to reveal a missing penis. >> describe the look on your doctor's face when you showed him what lorena had done. >> it was like his jaw dropped. >> it was a kind of an out-of-body experience. it really takes yourreath away to see this kind of disfigurement. he was very calm through all of this. as if he didn't even understand the extent of this injury and what the implications of it might be. >> i knew everything will be okay. >> you did? >> yeah. >> how? >> oh, i just had a lot of faith. >> faith in god? >> yeah. always. >> he'd lost about a third of his blood volume. >> i knew i had to get a microvascular surgeon. >> they said, you know, we have got this guy here whose penis has been cut off. and can you come down and basically put it back on?

i said, do you have the penis? and they said, no. >> meanwhile, lorena has been in the apartment with really a knife in one hand and his penis in the other and she goes downstairs to her car. i always tried to figure out how she opened the door. did she transfer from one hand to the other? how did that work? i don't know. but she gets into the car and starts the car, and according to her, she's driving along and she suddenly kind of realizes that she has this penis in her hand. >> her hands are too full to drive, is the way i see it. >> i remember i couldn't make a turn because i -- my hands were with something on them. so i tried to turn but then i saw that i have it in my hand. >> you were still holding his severed penis in your car? >> yes, yes.

and so i looked at it, and i scream. i throw it out of the window. and i just drive as fast as i could. >> and then she drives to janna and says, i did this. >> i wanted to see her so i was driving fast and faster. >> my husband said, "lorena's here." and i said, "oh, my god, what has john done to her?" and i walked down the stairs and she's huddled in the corner of my living room screaming and crying in a fetal position. and then she said, i cut his penis off. and i said, you did what? and i said, well, i think we better call, you know, 911. >> john's side says the reason

that lorena bobbitt went to that house was to concoct a cover story that he had raped me. and i was out of my mind. and i was in fear for my life. and i didn't know what to do. from his perspective, cooking up a lie to cover up a malicious, premeditated attack. >> the facts in the case, by us, were that she cut a pair of panties with the scissors, and then ripped it to make it look like he had ripped her pants off, to show force and sex. >> what better reason for lorena to use against john would be rape for the act that she did. that was her way of covering her tracks. >> janna, from lorena, is able to find out the rough coordinates of the penis, right? so janna tells the police roughly where the penis is located. >> we ended up coming out here to look for it after learning that the wife had thrown it out

the car window. looked at this field and thought, "there is no way we're going to find it. >> i was in and out of shock. i would come to. the doctor would be there. he would say that if they don't find the other part, they would have to sew me up and i would have to sit down to go to the bathroom for the rest of my life. >> i'm pushing this gurney with bobbitt on it. and it was in the course of transporting him that i heard we might have an organ to replant. >> i have always wondered, how did they find it? how did the cops find it? think about it. in a field, it's got to be compromised in terms of the antiseptic quality. >> the police went to that field. it was about 6:00 on a june morning. the police scavenged about and found the organ undamaged. no dogs had chewed on it. it was retrievable.

>> the police do find the penis by this grassy knoll by the 7-eleven. they take the penis into the 7-eleven. they get a hot dog container. they fill it with ice. they put the penis on top of the ice, and that's how they take it to the hospital. >> it came to us just in a bag of ice, concealed in a brown paper hot dog bag. >> it's quite a story. >> yeah. i know. >> i've never seen a penile replantation. they're extremely rare. i had done a lot of microsurgeries. so i'd put a lot of fingers back on. the technique is very, very well described. it was just, this particular application was different. >> they basically kind of use a microscope to attach the tiny little vessels. >> the main focus of the operation was reconnecting a couple of arteries, and a couple of veins, and a couple of nerves so he'd have sensation. >> on the clock, it was about nine hours, but when you get so engrossed in something like

this, the time passes very quickly. we sat down at 8:00, and all of a sudden, it was 4:00 in the afternoon. >> the biggest concern i had is simply that it had to work. there was no second chance. >> "the washington post" got wind of it and sent a reporter out. >> from the "post," it just went crazy. literally overnight. >> this wouldn't just be a big story, it would be one of the most unforgettable stories of the 1990s. the second you heard about it, you wanted to hear more. >> i was getting hundreds of phone calls. we're optimistic that he'll get full return of sexual function. >> the next day, all hell broke loose. >> mr. bobbitt. what happened? >> i would like to comment. but i can't.

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♪ is lorena bobbitt a greedy jealous woman who sexually mutilated her husband? >> he raped her several times over a three-day period. >> lorena took a large kitchen knife and cut off her sleeping husband's penis. >> she turns around, marches right back into the bedroom, and just does the deed. i don't know how to say that for network television. she just -- >> initially the story was sort of local news, kind of like a freak occurrence, but it became a sensation, and quickly. >> she was acting on irresistible impulse. >> the organ was successfully reattached after a nine-hour operation. john bobbitt's doctor says his patient could still face life as a sexual cripple. >> the public couldn't get enough. >> this was the story that everybody was on. >> making headlines this week, manassas, virginia. >> there was somebody taking

pictures, trying to interview somebody, trying to go by my mom and dad's house. everybody wanted to talk to john. >> i'd like to comment but i can't. >> everybody wanted to talk to lorena. >> it touches every single shakespearean theme. love, lust, betrayal, conflict, drama, and this had it all, including violence. >> she alleges that he beat her. and then also raped her. >> i was trying to fight him. when i said no, i wanted him to respect that. and he didn't. >> anyone's initial reaction is this is terrible, but he must have done something, too. as opposed to being open-minded and trying to assess what really went on that night, and in the relationship. >> lorena bobbitt came to represent the desperation, the deep anger of women who lived with this kind of violence. >> i think that she had just taken as much as she could take and i think she just snapped.

♪ [ machine beeping ] >> this surgery clearly is the most interesting and dramatic case i've ever done in my life. we're optimistic that he'll get full return of sexual function. but we don't know that. we won't know that for a year. it kind of really blew a lot of people's imaginations away with what could be done. >> the police found the organ undamaged. >> they managed to get it on ice and bring it to the hospital, and then hours of surgery ensue and it's reattached. >> when john woke up, i was able to tell him that we had great success. the organ was found. and he was a whole person again. >> so take me back to that moment when you're at the hospital and you find out that police had actually found your penis in the field? >> it was the happiest day of my life. it's like, wow. it's like opening christmas presents on christmas day when you're a little kid. i was excited.

>> when i drove her to the police, i just said, "what happened?" and she told me about him raping her. and that's what i told the police. >> there was a lengthy interview when she came to the police. she had said to the detective when asked expressly why did you do it. >> he always has orgasm and he doesn't wait for me to have orgasm. he's selfish. i don't think it's fair. so i pulled back the sheets and then i did it. >> she repeated the same thing the next day. because he have orgasm and not wait for me. lesson learned. >> of course the other side could seize on that and say she was just a vindictive spouse and it has nothing to do with this alleged abuse. >> i was there when detective wentz interviewed her. i think that was just a statement that sex should be mutual and people should mutually enjoy it. >> she, 25 years ago, didn't

necessarily have full command of the english language. it was a second language to her. >> that's just a bald-faced lie, as far as i'm concerned. because i know she had no problem with the english language because i had the opportunity to depose her for hours. >> because of the intimacy of this crime, it was confusing. who was the victim? who was the perpetrator? >> it wasn't like it fell off. it was cut off. and if it was cut off, should somebody be held accountable for doing that? and if so, what should the penalty be? >> i've been a commonwealth attorney in this jurisdiction for over 50 years. >> first i'm going to introduce paul ebert, the commonwealth attorney for prince william county. >> i've had a good career. >> paul has always had a good reputation. he has been elected over and over again in prince william. he's had some major cases. >> this case was the most televised case i've had, with the exception of the d.c. sniper.

>> will be tried by paul ebert. what has sent more men to death row than any other prosecutor. >> i'm known as the snipper and sniper prosecutor. >> lorena bobbitt appeared on the verge of tears this morning as she appeared in court. >> she was charged with malicious wounding. >> do you understand that charge? >> yes. >> that means she not only wounded and severed his penis, but she did it with malice, hatred, revenge. she was looking at probably 20 years. >> in my view, she was assaulted by him. she was upset by what he had done to her. as a result of that, she cut his penis off. >> two wrongs don't make a right in this case. >> malicious wounding, malice, it's a state of mind crime, right? but what was her state of mind? on the one hand, she did call the police and say, here. go find the penis. and they did and they reattached it. on the other hand, you're responsible for your actions under law. >> look, you can't let her walk away after cutting her husband's penis off. that's not a thing. and on the other hand, john didn't seem to be so innocent

either. >> while we were at the hospital we found out that john was going to be charged with marital sexual assault charge. we couldn't believe it. >> john bobbitt was indicted earlier this week on charges of marital sexual assault. >> it seemed clear that there was reason to believe he was a very abusive person. >> he initially told the police he had never had sex with her that night. and he only changed his story when the detective said, we have got the lab results. we know you had sex with her. and then it went from, no sex, to, you know what? sometimes when i'm asleep, i have sex. and therefore, i don't remember it. because i do it in my sleep. let's analyze that for a little bit. >> you said you plight have had sex in your sleep? >> oh, yeah. i've been known to have sex in my sleep or walk in my sleep. there could have been sex near when i was sleeping. >> john didn't have -- wasn't playing a full deck.

>> how long did you have to stay in the hospital? >> three weeks. >> and when did you know that everything was going to be back to normal, or at least close to normal? >> the second week i called my mom and told her i had an erection. >> and what was your mom's reaction? >> she didn't want to hear that. she said, "no, you gotta talk to your dad about that." >> i put him in the icu after surgery really for two reasons. the main reason is i had to monitor him. but it was a way to keep the media away from him. >> how quickly did you know that what happened that night was going to be a very big story? >> i knew it was big, because they were trying to, you know, keep the reporters from coming up to the hospital. they were trying to get into the room. >> did you realize the world was watching? >> we watched the evening shows. and saw all the jokes going on. >> well, well, well, the lorena bobbitt trial got under way today in virginia. >> and finally, our old buddy, john bobbitt. you know, poor john bobbitt.

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♪ there was a revolution going on in media at the time. cable news was coming on full bore and needed stories to cover. >> welcome to cnn prime news. >> they found these stories which were often buried previously in your local tabloid paper. you had the menendez brothers murder out in los angeles. >> lyle and eric menendez. accused in the shotgun murder of their parents. >> amy fisher on long island. >> fisher in court today accused of shooting her lover's wife.

>> nancy kerrigan and tonya harding. >> i had no prior knowledge of the planned assault on nancy kerrigan. >> culminating it all, the o.j. simpson murder trial mystery and television spectacle. >> if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> in the early '90s, mainstream media began to realize that they had to start covering stories that were abhorrent to their newsroom ethics before then. >> the truth is, everybody was talking about it. i don't think you can ignore a story like that. >> on virtually every late night show, there were jokes about him. >> when lorena cut off your penis, how did that make you feel? >> he was in "the washington post" almost every day. it was hugely popular. >> why do you think people were so fascinated by it? >> probably 'cause the way we looked back then. two good-looking young people that, you know, two -- from two different worlds. >> i think women were kind of energized by it.

it was somewhat shocking, the degree to which women were just almost enthralled. >> i knew that this case was going to be very significant. we had just been through anita hill's testimony less than two years before that. >> are you a scorned woman? >> no. >> there had been that kind of watch word, that the men just didn't get it. and very quickly after lorena bobbitt maimed her husband, the answer came back, well, do you get it now? >> the public kind of comes down very firmly on her side. he's guilty, guilty, guilty. and it's kind of an immediate circus. >> if he gets acquitted, how many more men are going to go out and rape women? >> a woman severs her husband's penis after he allegedly rapes her. hear from the doctor who reattached it, on the next "maury." >> i got a very nice call from maury povich, who invited me to his morning talk show. >> everybody was trying to get both lorena and john, and i wanted to do the story. that whole story is next. i'm skeptical.

i think my audience is skeptical. maybe i'm a cynic by nature, how does it work? i mean, really? they could do that good of a job that they can make it work? how would you describe it? a stump? >> simply, barely a stump at this point. >> how do you do that? especially when it was lying in a field in front of a 7-eleven. >> the "p"-word, still at that point in the american culture was not a mentionable item. >> so what you're saying is if this is the, what do you call it? >> the penis. >> no, i know that. i guarantee you that we had to check with our legal department at the time. okay, what can we say and what -- can we say privates? do we say member? can we say penis? and apparently we could. >> i had just started working for "vanity fair." i was assigned to go and get what was, at the time, the first and only interview with lorena bobbitt. we went out to dinner. lorena ordered steak. and she was having trouble cutting the steak. she asked the waiter, can i have a sharper knife?

it was like, if this guy knew who she was, he would have dined out on that for the rest of his days. >> from abc news -- >> lorena's team kind of went on the offensive. >> this is "20/20." >> she did a "20/20" interview. i believe it was in september of 1993. about a month before john's trial. >> i just remember his voice saying that, i will follow you, no matter where you are. >> she told her story in a very compelling way. she was somebody who made you want to reach out and help take care of her. >> and i can have any kind of sex he wanted with me. >> lord. >> a different story every time you talk to her. >> were those tears real? >> i think they were real. maybe 'cause she didn't want to do that to me. maybe she wants to take it back. that's why she's crying. she attacked me and shouldn't have. now she regrets it. >> people said to me, you've got to answer this. i said, no. i wanted the jury to hear john's

case for the first time. i'm not going to try this in the press. >> what was so unusual here is that they both end up in the legal cross-hairs, both charged with crimes. and both facing trials. >> john bobbitt arrived surrounded by attorneys. >> november of 1993, john goes on trial and the charge is marital sexual assault. >> for many women, the case of john bobbitt draws attention to what they see as the weakness of the laws against marital rape. >> at thereat time, things were just changing. in a lot of places, marriage was sacrosanct. and prosecutors let what happens inside a marriage stay inside a marriage. >> prosecutor said she was driven to cut her husband by years of abuse. >> she came across a sympathetic figure. but in the end she couldn't overcome what she had done. taking the law into her own hands. >> there is no indication whatsoever that john raped her that night. there were two rape kits

conducted on lorena at the hospital. no indication that she had had any forces inflicted upon her. >> you don't have physical evidence, which, in this case, you wouldn't, because she had acknowledged there had been consensual sexual relations in recent days. then what do you have? all you have is two peoples' word. >> did you think the jury wouldn't believe you? >> i was innocent. i didn't know why i was there. >> i said, but john, you could be going to jail. he said, they're going to do the right thing. they heard the case. they heard the truth. >> in manassas, virginia, a man was acquitted today. >> it took the jury only four hours to find john bobbitt not guilty. >> relieved this is all over. i'm thankful for the jury. they believed me. i just want to get on with my life. i have a lot of healing to do. >> the jury got the idea that

he had been punished quite a bit by having his penis cut off. >> i think all of us feel he suffered some punishment at the hands of his victim. >> the rest of the case remains to be told. and i guess that will be told at her trial. >> now bobbitt's wife, lorena, must face another jury. as a criminal defendant herself. >> she's very frightened. because she says, "well, if they've acquitted him, then they're sure gonna put all the blame on me. and i'm the one that's gonna be punished." >> so john's trial, there was no camera in that courtroom because it was a sexual assault case. lorena bobbitt came to trial, there was going to be a camera. >> all: lorena! lorena! lorena! >> and the whole world wanted to >> and the whole world wanted to watch. vings. for adults with moderate to severe opioid addiction whose withdrawal symptoms are controlled by oral buprenorphine for at least 7 days,

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became really a circus. >> it's sensational. the number of reporters you see around here proves that. >> it was in the papers and on the radio, you just couldn't escape it. >> it was amazing. there was a t-shirt business outside the courthouse. >> on your way out of the prince william courthouse you can pick up a souvenir t-shirt for $10. >> manassas, a cut above the rest. >> i was a reporter and an anchor at court tv. good evening, i'm terry moran. for court tv, this was one of those headline trials that made that network. >> the public, they were playing prosecutor, they were playing defense lawyer, they were playing defendant. and they thought that they were the jury. >> 100 people have gathered here in support of lorena bobbitt. >> a lot of people were protesting and marching. the latino community had a group. i got some death threats. it was different. >> mrs. bobbitt's attorney's claim that in severing her husband's penis as he slept, she was acting on irresistible impulse. >> her lawyer wanted to make

this argument that she simply could not control her rage. and she shouldn't be expected to have controlled her rage. she was not in her right mind. >> we had to go in there admitting and acknowledging that she's severed this guy's penis. he had dozed off in a drunken stupor. so it wasn't like he was chasing her around the house with a butcher knife. >> all rise. the circuit court is now in session. >> ladies and gentlemen, what we have is lorena bobbitt's life juxtaposed against john wayne bobbitt's penis. >> lisa kemler gave the opening argument in the case. we weren't trying to appeal to the jury honestly. she was just good. >> i submit to you that a life is more valuable than a penis. >> the defense will tell you that she acted in self-defense. and if you don't like that defense, then they will tell you she suffered an irresistible impulse.

after you've heard all the evidence you will believe that there is no justification, and thathe acted in anger. >> mr. bobbitt? >> yes, sir. >> john bobbitt. >> when he first walked in the courtroom, i think they had him in a blue suit, white shirt, crisp. he looked like a marine. and i just said, this guy could be formidable. >> my name is john w. bobbitt. >> but quite frankly, i had so much material to work with that a first-year law student could have taken him apart. during the course of the marriage, sir, did you ever strike your wife? >> no. >> never did? >> no, never did. >> you ever pushed, restrained, grabbed, or shoved your wife? >> yes, i have. >> and how many occasions did that happen? >> many, many times. >> many times? and would that be all of the above? pushed, restrained, grabbed, and shoved? >> most of them just was restraining. you know, holding her down. >> there were multiple inconsistencies.

remember talking to kathleen williams, with the family advocacy group quantico marines about an allegation of abuse involving your wife? >> i remember but i don't remember the conversation. >> you remember kathleen williams, don't you? the family advocacy council? >> i talked to a priest. >> when i ask him, did you ever go to counseling? i don't believe so. i think i saw a priest. but that's about it. then i said, you remember filling out a form? you remember this form, sir, that you filled out and signed in front of kathleen williams? >> i don't -- i don't remember this form at all. >> are you denying that you filled that form out? >> am i denying doing it? i don't know. i don't deny doing it. i just don't remember this form. >> i'll never forget as long as i live, he looked at the bottom

on the last page and he says, but that's my signature. >> he had a devastating credibility problem. he couldn't keep his story straight on the witness stand. >> what was it like on the stand in those moments? >> it was a battle. i think, you know, i got a little cocky. i have nothing to hide. of course, lorena does. >> i think that's for this jury to decide, mr. bobbitt. >> i didn't know how to explain it, and i was frustrated. i didn't know how to explain the story. >> with a steady stream of witnesses testifying today that john bobbitt has a history of violent behavior, it may appear that he is the one on trial. >> her face was swollen. >> he was hitting her, punching her. >> so grabbed her hair like this and pulled her downward. >> they brought in dozens of witnesses to talk about the violence that she had experienced. >> i saw a bruise on her head and again she was crying and real shaky. >> he just pushed her one more time and walked away and said -- >> he said that he liked to have, that the way he liked to have sex was forced sex because that turned him on.

>> not only do you show that he was having the forced sex, but he was even bragging about it. >> in manassas, virginia, today, it was finally time for lorena bobbitt to take the stand in her own defense. >> i call lorena bobbitt. >> the lorena i saw on the stand was the same lorena i saw in my office the first night i ever met her in my life. >> it feel like, i don't know, like my vagina was ripping off or something. i can't say this. i can't describe. maybe you don't understand because you are a man. he didn't understand because he's a man. but it hurt me. >> what happened then? >> i was drinking the water and i saw the knife. i remember many things since then. i remember a lot of things he said to me.

i remember the first time he raped me. i remember he hurt me. i remember everything he said. everything. >> do you remember cutting him? >> no, i don't remember that. >> dr. susan fiester. >> dr. fiester, please. >> it was crucial in the trial for lorena bobbitt to have people who could come and say "look, i'm a psychiatrist and i look at what happened in her life, and the evidence around it, she snapped. >> she suffered from major depressive disorder. post-traumatic stress disorder. she had an acute deterioration of her mental state at that time and became psychotic. >> it was a psychotic episode. she knew what she was doing was wrong, she couldn't help herself.

>> she attacked. the weapon which was the instrument of her torture, that is her husband's penis. >> even the prosecutor's witnesses, state psychiatrists and psychologists, said she was a battered woman. >> the difference between the state doctors and our doctor was they said she had the ability to restrain herself. >> which would be incompatible with the irresistible impulse or temporary insanity. >> so if this wasn't a reaction to abuse, why do you think -- >> she knows the truth. >> she cut off your penis? >> she knows. she didn't want the marriage to end. she wanted to keep the marriage. she wanted to -- everything that she dreamed about. and it was falling apart. and she wanted either to keep it together. if she couldn't, then she was gonna retaliate. she was hurt. deeply, emotionally. and she was acting on that. >> by your verdict, you can restore a little bit of self-respect so she can walk out of this courtroom with her head up. i just kept saying to myself,

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there's been a verdict in the trial of lorena bobbitt, the woman charged with the sexual mutilation of her husband. >> will the defendant please stand? we the jury find the defendant lorena lenore bobbitt not guilty of malicious wounding as charged in the indictment by reason of insanity. >> an american jury has found the woman who cut off her husband's penis not guilty. >> not guilty. >> by reason of insanity. >> not guilty. >> the first time that i ever saw her smile, she said something to lisa along the lines of, what does that mean? >> i don't think lorena heard it because she said, is that good? and we told her it was good. >> the judge denied a defense motion to set mrs. bobbitt free, citing state law that requires commitment to a mental institution for testing. >> the evidence of -- of the prior assaultive behavior was so compelling, the jury ultimately concluded that she was not responsible under the law.

>> i have a certain amount of sympathy for mrs. bobbitt, but that doesn't justify what she did. [ cheers ] >> they cheered the verdict. lorena bobbitt was rushed away to central state hospital. >> i couldn't believe it. >> not guilty by reason of insanity. that is absolutely outrageous. >> i think that's wonderful. i'm so happy for her. >> oh, this is going to be really bad for guys. a lot of copycat women out there. >> tom is on with us now and barbara and i have some questions. >> tom, you have been covering this. you know her. you have talked to her. what do you think of the verdict? >> i find the verdict at the least perplexing. >> is it likely to encourage violence of this kind? >> i hope not. >> gentlemen, i cannot believe that the two of you think that women are now going to go around

cutting off men's penises. i think what this shows is that there is a great deal of abuse on both sides and we are far more sensitive to the issues than we were a few years ago. i got to tell you i'm amazed at the two of you. >> barbara, a woman has cut off a man's penis and received a little more than a slap on the wrist in terms of punishment. >> i thought, wait, nothing? nothing for that? and i think that was the reaction of a lot of men. whereas there were women who felt somehow vindicated. who believed in her version of an abusive marriage. >> there were all these kind of feminist protestors outside the courthouse, and they would make the "v" for victory sign, which they would then turn on its side and make into a scissors. going snip, snip, snip. >> why the glee? >> doesn't it make you a little uncomfortable, that glee? i mean, it seems to be making men -- >> yes. >> well, it makes us uncomfortable -- >> well, but it's so interesting that what upset you is what the carving knife cut off. >> she came to symbolize the serious problems that had to be changed.

the deficiencies. how our system had failed her. >> i think the jury was more influenced by the fact that they allowed john to be painted as a bad person. it was so one-sided, what could one expect? >> i don't believe john ever beat lorena. i think that was just the story that they used to get her off. and it worked. she cut his penis off and got 25 days in a mental institution. >> sometimes juries do a kind of rough justice. they look at what happened and they say, that's enough. >> a judge has ordered lorena bobbitt released from a mental hospital saying that she poses no threat to herself or to others. >> lorena, what's the first thing you're going to do now? >> well, i've been to mcdonald's already. i guess next step is disney world. >> after lorena was released from that state hospital, she sat down for a second interview with "20/20." >> neither you nor john were found guilty. was there no victim here? or were you both victims? >> we both were victims of a

tragic situation, yes. >> do you believe that's true? >> i don't believe that. i don't think she was a victim. no. she was just greedy, selfish, and she was stubborn. >> how do you want men to feel about you in general? >> well, men have to have a little bit more consideration and respect for women. >> the bobbitt case it has this kind of shakespearean comic ribbon to it. all's well that ends well. penis gets cut off. penis gets put back on again. she gets charged but found not guilty. he gets charged but found not guilty. >> i think that just speaks to how little, after all the evidence that was presented at both trials, how little any of us really knew about them personally. >> i thought it would be a stop sign for abuse against women. don't ever commit domestic violence. guess what? you may be bobbitted. and i thought that would last. obviously it didn't. because of what we know now in

terms of the me too movement. >> we will declare again that women are full moral human beings. >> i think it's a big comparison to make. i don't think lorena bobbitt willingly chose to tell the truth about her life and thought it came out in the stories at her trial. and if you speak up and speak out, if you take the courageous step of telling the truth about your life, you find lots of other women who gain courage and come forward. >> all: hey, hey, ho, ho. >> if the publicity of her abuse can help one person find freedom, then all of this is not in vain. >> the verdicts may be in. but we have not heard the last of them. >> the story did not die. you would have thought verdicts would end the story.

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when john wayne bobbitt's trial was over, he embarked on this 40-city media blitz tour. >> and joining us now, john bobbitt. >> he had a pr person. they went on radio shows. >> the doctor said she used a knife. >> they went on events. the various contests. i mean it was almost like you show up at the county fair somewhere. >> here's the man whose wife severed his penis, john wayne bobbitt. >> we went on "the jenny jones show" as a family and it felt good to go on there and defend our brother. >> you think she tried to kill him? >> she tried to hurt him in the worst way possible for any man. how would you feel if it happened to your son? >> can you tell us what kind of condition it's in now? >> right now? >> i'm sorry. you think this is easy.

>> john said his most common question is everybody wanted to look at it. so that led to the howard stern craziness. >> our final judge, howard, a man 20 stiches away from oblivion -- john wayne bobbitt. >> $15,000 cash if you show me your penis. and this is my final offer. does your penis still hurt? i know you had some sensation down there that was uncomfortable. is that true? >> i've completely almost restored. >> you spent a lot of time on "the howard stern show." >> yeah. >> did you ever mind being the butt of everyone's jokes? >> no, i made up a lot of my own. >> he was ready to do anything. and then, of course, he decided to go and do adult films. >> hi, nurse. >> hi, how are we doing today? >> i believe he did it not only for the money. but he wanted to show people that it worked. >> where did the idea first come

from to get involved in adult films? >> oh, down here at wet and wild. had a big party. a "playboy" party. went there, met some people. got talking about doing an adult film. >> ron jeremy? >> yes, ron jeremy. >> i'm ron jeremy, best known as being an adult film actor. i've done about 4000 x-rated movies in a 41-year career. i was the discoverer, or you could say the scout for the john wayne bobbitt movies. i'm the one who approached him in vegas. >> what's your name? >> my name is lorena. >> i don't think it was the wisest choice. but obviously from my standpoint, it gives credibility to the fact that it does work and it worked very well. >> it was a comedy. i was writing and directing this thing. this, i think, was my best directing. she had the knife behind her back, and i had the light glisten off the knife, and people said to me, nice effect, ron. >> i couldn't not see it. i mean, it's my work. >> it's not often that our surgical work is displayed in

that fashion. yeah. >> your first film was pretty successful too. >> yeah, i think it was the fastest selling adult video in history. >> it was a humongous pr move. it boosted the entire adult industry. that was having some problems. and it started the way for celebrities to actually do sex. >> i'm just sad that he didn't really make any money at it. the one thing about john is, in his sort of own innocence he's easily led by people led into things that don't have the best of appearances. >> john's not complicated. he, you know, says what's on his mind. sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. and then i think when he found himself being this huge center of media attention it really overwhelmed him. >> i was surprised at the route he took. lorena, on the other hand, lived a very quiet, and a good representative life. >> her path sort of post-trial was kind of admirable. she comes out of the psychiatric hospital.

and she's in dire straits. "playboy" offered her $1 million to pose. she turned that down. she went back to her manicurist work. >> when you decided to date again, how did that go? how did men react to you? >> i never experienced having any man being afraid of me. on the contrary, they're curious. >> shortly after her divorce, she met a new man, dave bellinger, in a college class. >> what was his reaction when he found out that you were lorena bobbitt? >> i think he knew it from the very beginning. >> he wasn't worried? >> no, he was not worried. it was very flattered for me. i was like, this guy knows who i am maybe he's not afraid of me. >> she has a house in gainesville, virginia, just a stone's throw from manassas. she has a daughter named olivia. she starts a foundation that combats domestic violence. >> she took the turn that john did not take in terms of using this event to better the lives of others, and probably feeling

better about herself. >> look, in fairness, lorena does have a blip in the road. in 1997, she is accused of assaulting her mother. basically of beating up her mom. and she gets arrested. and the judge is on record as saying he thinks lorena was probably guilty. but, you know, there was reasonable doubt. so he found her not guilty. >> here lorena is touting a foundation to help abused women. it always made me wonder whether her mother could apply for some aid from that foundation. >> but even after lorena you did have several arrests and convictions for battery against women. >> there are problems with women, and these are chronic problems with women. there are a number of domestic battery charges brought against him. he serves some jail time for this. >> is it you, is it them, is it -- is it a bad combination? how do you explain your troubled love life? >> falling in love too fast. you know. not getting to know the person i'm with. and their motives. after the case, i would attract

all the wrong people. you know, being around all the wrong people. and i didn't have that just discernment of picking and choosing wisely. >> did you physically hurt any of these women? >> no. mm-mm. >> i think part of the problem for john is that john sees domestic violence as punching a woman in the face. he doesn't really see shoving or restraining in a rough way, or punching a wall as violence. and it is. it is. >> john wayne bobbitt. how would you describe yourself? >> cool, calm, collective. peace -- peaceful. i don't like violence. i don't believe in violence. audrey's on it. eating right and staying active?

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get up to 70% off clearance apparel, shoes, and more. up to 50% off toy clearance. and up to 50% off seasonal clearance. save on thousands of items during the great winter clearance dash. only at target. i'm able to do the impossible. i'm really good at finding things. >> i hear you are on the search for the forrest fen treasure chest. >> this is "nightline." >> adventurers scouring the rocky mountains for a chest said to be filled with millions in riches. >> a modern day gold rush in the rio grande. >> hidden by this man, new mexico art dealer and collector forrest fenn. >> everybody blogs online and they have youtube pages.

and a lot of people search for the treasure on google maps. >> he considers himself at this point a professional treasure hunter. >> the treasure chest is hidden somewhere in the rocky mountains from north of santa fe all the way up to the border of canada. >> you know where it is? you think you know where it is? >> yeah, i might know where the treasure chest is. you know, i have a good clue, real good -- oh, a lot of good clues, really. that's where it is. that's where the treasure chest is. >> his hope is that if he finds this treasure, donald trump will invite him to the white house. that's sort of his present day life. it's crazy. you can't make it up. >> have you seen lorena since the trial? >> you know, once. that was at a television show called, "the insider." >> john and lorena bobbitt. face to face. >> on that show you said that you still loved lorena. is that still true? >> i loved the woman she was, yeah. >> have you moved on? >> yeah.

well, i'm here in las vegas. i had two different careers, and then my mother got sick, and went home for a little while. came back to vegas about a year and half ago. >> there's no question that there was a lasting legacy out of the lorena and john bobbitt story. >> we need to have a fully funded violence against women act. in september, 1994, we got the violence against women act passed. >> it's no surprise that some men were too preoccupied with john wayne bobbitt's penis to notice that women had begun a national dialogue about domestic violence. for the first time, a federal legislative package designed to stop violence against women. that was a major breakthrough. >> the attitude toward sexual abuse, toward physical abuse between men and women has changed dramatically in the last 25 years. >> i don't know. because i feel like we had lorena bobbitt, who does this to

her husband, and it's supposed to be a big moment to recognize domestic abuse. and yet was it? i don't know. it feels to me like things change very slowly in our society. >> a story that captivated the nation then and now. thanks for watching. i'm amy robach. >> and i'm david muir. in from all of us here at "20/20," thanks for watching this two-hour special. we'll see you next week. good night.