'How could you regret something that was not planned?' Lorena Bobbitt gives first televised interview in years as she opens up about the night she cut off her husband's penis as she says she 'wasn't in my right mind set'
- Lorena appeared on Today show on the heels of her new four-part documentary
- The docuseries, which was produced by Jordan Peele, is premiering on Amazon
- Lorena became headline news after she cut off John Wayne Bobbitt's penis in '93
- She told Today that she 'wasn't in my right mind set' on the night of the attack
- Lorena has maintained that John raped her before she cut off his penis and threw it on the side of the road
It was the night that would change her life forever, plastering her face on the front pages of newspapers and turning her name into the butt of numerous jokes.
But does Lorena Bobbitt regret cutting off her husband's penis 26 years ago?
'Oh my god, how could you regret something that was not planned?' Lorena tells the Today in her first television interview in years.
'I mean, how could you?' she repeats again. 'You have to understand, I wasn't in my right mind set.'
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Lorena Bobbitt asks how she can regret 'something that was not planned' as she reflects on cutting off her husband's penis nearly 26 years ago
Lorena, now 49, has maintained that she cut off John Wayne Bobbitt's penis after he raped her at their home in Manassas, Virginia on June 23, 1993.
After he fell asleep, Lorena - who was just 24 at the time - grabbed a knife and cut off his penis at the base.
She then drove off and threw the shaft into a field before calling police and confessing to what she had just done.
Authorities were able to locate John's penis after Lorena described the exact location, and he was reunited with it after a 10-hour surgery.
But the couple's lives were changed forever as the wild story made headlines that followed them through an explosive trial.
While John has gone on to enjoy a career in porn, Lorena has mainly tried to stay under the radar since that fateful night.
After she successfully avoided jail and underwent a 45-day evaluation at a psych facility, Lorena did her best to avoid the spotlight.
Lorena said she wasn't in her 'right mind set' when she sliced off husband John Wayne Bobbitt's penis on June 23, 1993 as he slept in their bed. Both pictured during trial in 1994
Lorena appears on Today this week, the first televised interview she has given in years
But now she is preparing to see her name in headlines once again as she awaits the release of Lorena, a new docuseries produced by Jordan Peele that will be released on Amazon Prime on February 15.
The series promises to retell the familiar tale of the vengeful housewife from Lorena's perspective in the #MeToo era, exploring 'vital moral issues' like domestic violence and sexual assault that, according to the film's description, the national media failed to address 25 years ago.
Lorena hopes to turn the story away from the past obsession over John's penis onto the abuse she said led her to cut it off in the first place.
'They always just focused on [the penis],' Lorena told the New York Times last month.
Lorena used this kitchen knife to severe her husband's organ, after she claimed he raped her
rena testified during the trial to the years of sexual and physical abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her husband (Pictured is a photo of John's severed penis being shown during trial)
'And it's like they all missed or didn't care why I did what I did.'
At the time, the male-dominated news media portrayed Lorena as an angry, crazed suburban wife with a grudge, while feminists accused her of hurting their cause with her violent actions.
'I was the subject of so many jokes in the 90s and to me it was just cruel,' she said. 'They didn't understand. Why would they laugh about my suffering?'
When Lorena was first approached by Peele about a documentary, she was concerned that her tragedy would once again be turned into farce.
Lorena became the butt of jokes and was widely vilified in the media as a crazed, vengeful wife
John claimed during his wife's trial that she was angry with him because he denied her sex. Lorena said he raped her before she cut off his manhood
But Peele convinced her that it was impossible to faithfully retell 'the incident' without injecting some dark humor into it.
Lorena was also motivated to join forces with Peele following the election of Donald Trump, who was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women and caught talking about grabbing women by 'the p***y' on that infamous Access Hollywood tape.
Now Lorena hopes to use her reemerging platform to continue to advocate for victims of domestic violence through her non-profit organization Lorena's Red Wagon.
'I'll put myself through the jokes and everything as long as I can shine a light on domestic violence and sexual assault and marital rape,' she said.
John Wayne Bobbitt is pictured in a 'Trump 2020' hat and T-shirt at the Nevada Republican Party's election results watch party last November
John, now 51, also recently spoke out about the night that changed his life, telling Dr Oz that he was suicidal in the hours after his penis was cut off
And Lorena plans to still keep her profile low in Manassas, where she currently lives with her long-time partner Dave Bellinger and their daughter, who is now 13.
But Lorena isn't the only one giving interviews.
John, now 51, also recently spoke out about the night that changed his life, telling Dr Oz that he was suicidal in the hours after his penis was cut off.
Recalling his visit to the ER after Lorena had fled in their car with his severed penis in one hand and the knife she used in the other, Bobbitt said: 'The doctor comes up to me and says, "Show me your wrist."'
'And I said, "That's not where I'm cut." So, "Show me where you're cut."'
'So I pulled off my pants and blood is all over the place, some guy's putting towels on me, he kept putting all these towels on me and I was like pretty much suicidal at that point,' he continued.
'I'm kind of mutilated in the most worst way a man can be mutilated and I was self-terminated, and I was looking for something that can end it with looking around.'
John also made sure to inform the world that his penis is still working 'well'.
'I doing good,' he said. 'I'm super, I'm pretty healthy, pretty strong.'
Lorena is preparing to see her name in headlines once again as she awaits the release of Lorena, a new docuseries produced by Jordan Peele that will be released on Amazon Prime
