At a Glance
- Mary Jo Buttafuoco was shot point-blank in the face by her husband’s teen mistress on May 19, 1992.
- The bullet remains lodged in her brain; she lives with facial paralysis.
- Lifetime’s biopic I Am Mary Jo Buttafuoco premieres Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. ET.
- Why it matters: Her firsthand account shows how tragedy can become triumph.
Mary Jo Buttafuoco begins the morning of May 19, 1992, like any other Long Island mom: kids to school, kitchen cleaned, beds made. By sunset she is fighting for her life after a shotgun blast to the head. Thirty-three years later she narrates the ordeal in Lifetime’s I Am Mary Jo Buttafuoco.
The Day Everything Changed
Buttafuoco, 70, remembers every minute. She planned to paint in the backyard after finishing chores. Instead, 17-year-old Amy Fisher-her husband’s secret girlfriend-rang the bell.
“I was so taken aback by this kid,” she tells News Of Losangeles. Fisher wore a T-shirt claiming Joey Buttafuoco was cheating. Polite and stunned, Buttafuoco turned to phone her husband.
That’s when “my head exploded,” she says. “I thought she hit me with a bat.” The shotgun blast knocked her backward; she blacked out instantly.
Survival Against Odds
Neighbors-retired police and firemen-raced over. Her carotid artery was severed, yet she survived. The bullet is still in her brain; facial paralysis remains.
Fisher pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated assault and served nearly seven years. Media dubbed her the “Long Island Lolita,” turning the case into a national spectacle.
Marriage Unravels
Joey Buttafuoco initially denied the affair. After he admitted statutory rape, he served four months in jail. The couple split soon after.
“To carry hate, to carry anger, it’s so debilitating,” Buttafuoco says. “Forgiveness isn’t saying, ‘It’s okay.’ It’s saying, ‘You did this, but you won’t ruin the rest of my life.'”
Today she has no contact with Joey or Fisher. Her son sees Joey; her daughter does not.
Telling Her Own Story
Lifetime’s film lets Buttaftafuoco narrate while actress Chloe Lanier plays her younger self. She hopes young viewers learn resilience.
“Things happen-really bad things-but you can get past them,” she says.
Life at 70
Founder of The Facial Paralysis and Bell’s Palsy Foundation, Buttafuoco recently celebrated her 70th birthday. “There’s issues that come with 70, but I’m grateful to be alive for all of them,” she says. “I’ve never felt so good mentally and emotionally.”
Key Takeaways
- A single shotgun blast rewrote her life in seconds.
- Media frenzy labeled the teen shooter, not the victim.
- Forgiveness became her survival tool, not theirs.
- Her biopic reclaims the narrative, premiering Jan. 17.
Lifetime’s I Am Mary Jo Buttafuoco premieres Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. ET.
