The infamous case of Lorena Bobbitt, who severed her husband's penis in 1993, is set to be the subject of a new Hulu miniseries.
The second season of Hulu's "Good American Family," executive produced by Ellen Pompeo, will focus on the trial between Virginia couple John Wayne Bobbitt and Lorena Bobbitt Gallo. Creator Katie Robbins will center the true-crime anthology series on the 1993-94 legal proceedings.
Lorena Bobbitt Gallo, described as a domestic violence advocate, severed her then-husband John Wayne Bobbitt's penis with a knife, an act she has characterized as "a desperate act of self-defense" following allegations of repeated rape and abuse.
Following the incident, Gallo drove away and discarded the severed member in a field near their Manassas home. Police recovered the organ, and surgeons spent four hours reattaching it.
The ensuing legal battles involved two criminal trials. A jury acquitted Gallo by reason of temporary insanity for malicious wounding. Separately, a jury acquitted John Wayne Bobbitt of marital sexual assault.
The couple's six-year marriage officially ended in 1995. This followed John Wayne Bobbitt's secret fathering of a son, Andrew, in 1992 with Beatrice Williams.
In a 2023 podcast appearance, Bobbitt suggested that Gallo attacked him because he was planning to divorce her before she could become a naturalized U.S. citizen. He denied abuse allegations, claiming Gallo accused him of having an affair and would react with physical aggression when attractive women were present.
John Wayne Bobbitt's story is also slated to be featured in the upcoming documentary "Breaking The Silence." He later appeared in adult films, reportedly to demonstrate the functionality of his reattached genitalia.
Lorena Bobbitt Gallo founded the Lorena Gallo Foundation in 2018, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting survivors and victims of domestic violence. Gallo has a 21-year-old daughter, Olivia, with Dave Bellinger, and they reside in a rented four-bedroom home valued at $640,000 in Prince William County.
The new Hulu series follows the first season of "Good American Family," which centered on Kristine Barnett. That eight-episode season garnered 140 million hours of streaming across Hulu and Disney+ but received mixed reviews, with a 50% critic approval rating and a 47% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Gallo has previously shared her narrative in Amazon Prime Video's 2019 docuseries "Lorena," produced by Jordan Peele, and the 2024 ITVX documentary "I Cut Off His Penis: The Truth Behind the Headlines." Additionally, she produced and narrated the 2020 Lifetime movie "I Was Lorena Bobbitt," starring Dani Montalvo and Luke Humphrey.
