John Wayne Bobbitt made headlines on June 23, 1993, when his wife, Lorena Gallo, severed his penis while he was asleep.
The act stunned the world and became the subject of a media frenzy.
Lorena later claimed that years of physical and sexual abuse had driven her to commit the violent act, a defense that would become central to her trial, per Daily Mail.
The Moment Bobbitt Realized What Happened
In a 2019 interview with ABC News, Bobbitt recalled the shocking moment he woke up to the realization that his penis had been severed.
"I sprung up and I was bleeding, I was applying pressure, then immediately I thought it was something out of a horror movie. A nightmare… turned into reality," he said.
The violence occurred after a night of drinking and a series of heated arguments between the couple.
Bobbitt’s friend, Robert Johnston, had stayed with the couple while they decided on who would keep their apartment.
Lorena later claimed she was woken by the sound of a door slamming, followed by her husband allegedly raping her.
Bobbitt, who was 26 years old at the time, denied the accusation and alleged Lorena had made sexual advances on him, but he was too exhausted to reciprocate.
Regardless of the differing accounts, Lorena claimed that after the alleged assault, she went to the kitchen for water but returned with a knife.
She was reportedly overcome by the memories of the abuse and her abortion, leading her to say, “I pick up the knife and... I went back to the bedroom. I took the sheets off, and I cut him. Everything went just fast.”
The Aftermath: Bobbitt's Hospitalization and Remarkable Surgery
As Bobbitt realized what had happened, Lorena fled the scene, taking both the knife and Bobbitt’s severed manhood with her.
She later threw the body part out of her car window before calling the police to report the incident.
Meanwhile, Bobbitt was rushed to the hospital by his friend, who got him to the hospital in just 10 minutes.
Upon arrival, doctors initially thought the blood was from an arm wound, but after a closer inspection, they realized the blood was coming from Bobbitt’s groin area.
Dr. James Sehn, Bobbitt's urologist, recalled how the emergency room doctor’s jaw “dropped” when the sheet was removed.
"Really all I knew about this on the way into the hospital was that a penis had been amputated and the organ was missing," Sehn said, per the outlet.
Bobbitt underwent a grueling nine-hour surgery led by Dr. David Berman and Dr. Sehn, who successfully reattached his penis and restored normal function.
Lorena's Trial and Bobbitt's Surprising Response
Lorena was charged with malicious wounding, but during her highly-publicized trial, she was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity and was committed to a mental hospital for five weeks of treatment and evaluation.
Bobbitt was left stunned by the verdict.
“I couldn’t believe it, how could someone get away with it,” he said in the interview.
The couple’s tumultuous marriage came to an end in 1995 with their divorce.
However, the aftermath of the infamous incident took a surprising turn for Bobbitt.
After the divorce, he found work in the adult film industry, a decision that further caught public attention.
Meanwhile, Lorena, after her release from the mental health facility, expressed regret for her actions.
"I never meant to hurt anybody," she said in a 1994 interview with ABC News. "I never hurt anybody before. It just happened."