Publications
Partners
Talk about bad luck.
John Wayne Bobbitt, who made headlines 30 years ago when his then-wife sliced off his penis, recently had his toes amputated due to contaminated water.
The 57-year-old former marine made the revelation in a new interview with The Sun, saying he’s been diagnosed with toxic peripheral polyneuropathy as a result of exposure to contaminated water. The exposure happened during his service at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in '80s.
The condition causes nerve damage to the extremities and has resulted in him having all his toes amputated over the years, the last of which were removed in 2021.
He now only has two stumps for feet, and has to wear special prosthetic shoes. This is also the reason he's unable to find work, he says.
In 2022 President Joe Biden signed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act into law, which allows people, including military personnel who were previously exposed to the contaminated water at the camp, to file a new claim with the department of navy asking for compensation.
John says his time spent at the base messed with his head and led to the disintegration of his marriage to his ex-wife Lorena (now 55). Lorena claimed he raped and beat her during their marriage.
In June 1993 she famously chopped off his penis with a kitchen knife while he slept before fleeing to her boss' home and tossing the organ out of the window along the way.
She confessed her crime on a 911 call and police retrieved the penis, which was successfully re-attached to John in a nine-hour-long operation.
“I wasn’t behaving the way I should have,” says John, who's single and lives in Las Vegas with his chihuahua.
The incident marked the end of their marriage and resulted in a trial that turned them into household names.
Lorena was ultimately acquitted by reason of temporary insanity while John was also acquitted on charges of sexual assault.
Afterwards he had a brief career as a porn star and made several high-profile TV appearances.
When work dried up he made ends meet by taking on odd jobs such as bartender, limo driver and pizza delivery guy. He even had a stint serving as a minister at a Las Vegas wedding chapel.
Over the years he's had several run-ins with the law. In 1999 he was implicated in a theft at a store in Nevada. In 2003 he faced charges of battery involving his second wife, Joanna Ferrell. He was arrested again in 2004 for battery and filed for divorce that same year.
In May 2009 he appeared with Lorena on the US show The Insider where he apologised for the way he treated her during their marriage.
Since then their story has been dramatised on-screen numerous times.
Lorena has since remarried and has a daughter. She now goes by her maiden name Gallo and lives in Northern Virginia where she uses her foundation to advocate for domestic violence victims.
Sources: people.com, nypost.com
