USA TODAY International Edition
Lorena Bobbit on her ex: ‘I know who he is’
Documentary looks at infamous 1993 saga
LOS ANGELES – Twenty-five years later, it’s not about the penis.
That’s a flash summary of “Lorena,” a four-episode docuseries hitting Amazon on Friday that takes a deep dive into the story of why Lorena Bobbitt sliced off her husband’s sex organ on a June night in 1993.
The why is what’s important. The why is why Lorena Bobbitt is facing the world, one more time.
“To see the reaction of people before (seeing) the documentary and after, they come out like, ‘Wow, did we really miss something here?’” says Lorena, 48, who has reverted to Gallo, her maiden name.
At 19, she married a Marine named John Wayne Bobbitt, and after they wed, she says, her husband would brutally rape her. Before she was arrested and charged for malicious wounding, he beat her and threatened to deport or kill her, she testified, crying as she detailed the abuse. (She was later acquitted by reason of temporary insanity).
But the headlines were too rich to pass up.
“If Lorena had slit his throat ear to ear, we would never heard her name,” says “Lorena” director Joshua Rofe, who charts the rise of nonstop cable news alongside her trial. “She cut his penis off and guys couldn’t deal. Castration anxiety is a real thing that really set in.”
And so in a climate changed by #MeToo, Gallo is trying again.
“I wanted to show society how important it is to know what happened in the eyes of the victims,” she says. “It was really traumatizing. Psychologically, it was overwhelming to handle it. I was not only abused by my husband but yes, I was abused by the media and in general … So I wanted to show that. But I also wanted to show how a perpetrator can be brutally aggressive.”
John Bobbitt recently reiterated his denials to ABC News that he ever physically abused his wife, though he admits they fought. He was acquitted of marital sexual assault in 1993.
And sure, “Lorena” is aware of the jokes. The first episode even embraces them.
Then, juxtaposing Gallo’s gutpunching trial testimony with the punchlines, the docuseries starts to dig deeper.
“Lorena,” executive produced by Jordan Peele, premiered last month at the Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim. Gallo had first watched the series at her home in Virginia.
“I sat with my significant other, David, (who) was there with me for moral support,” she says.
Gallo says reliving her memories on camera took its toll. She found herself crying throughout the day and night. She shook herself. “I said look, you’re in a different time now. This is reality. This happened 25 years ago. This is not what (your life is) now.”