Nearly 33 years after cutting off her husband's penis and becoming a household name, Lorena Bobbitt, now using her maiden name Lorena Gallo, is living a quiet life in suburban Virginia. She resides with her long-term partner, Dave Bellinger, their 21-year-old daughter, and a dog, according to the Daily Mail.
Bellinger, 56, whom Gallo met at community college in the late 1990s, has a criminal record including arrests for credit card theft, fraud, embezzlement, and numerous traffic violations. He declined to comment when approached by the Daily Mail.
Gallo, also 56, spends her days working out, attending church, and running a domestic abuse charity. She has consistently stated that she mutilated her ex-husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, after enduring years of rape and abuse. Neighbours, however, continue to gossip about the couple, with some expressing fear of Gallo and questioning why she and Bellinger have not married after more than two decades together.
On June 23, 1993, Gallo severed her husband's penis with a kitchen knife as he slept. She has claimed she acted in a dissociative state following an alleged rape that evening. After the incident, she drove away and threw the severed organ into a field, later recovering it to be reattached by surgeons. John Bobbitt has denied her abuse allegations, stating any sexual contact was consensual or occurred while he was asleep.
Lorena Bobbitt was charged with malicious wounding but was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1994, with the jury accepting her defense's claim of psychological damage from years of alleged abuse. John Bobbitt was tried for marital sexual assault but acquitted due to inconsistencies in his wife's account.
Following her acquittal, Gallo returned to community college and met Bellinger. She has since dedicated much of her life to advocating for victims of domestic violence, launching the Lorena Gallo Foundation in 2018 to provide education and resources for survivors. She describes herself as an "icon in the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault prevention movement."
Despite her efforts to redirect attention to her advocacy work, the sensational nature of the 1993 incident continues to be a topic of local discussion. Gallo has transitioned from the public persona of a controversial figure to that of a mother, partner, and campaigner.