Oprah Winfrey | 04/23/2009 10:35 am

Where Are They Now? Lorena Bobbitt, Tonya Harding Talk to Oprah (Video)

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

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If you remember the name Lorena Bobbitt, what also probably comes to mind are all the news stories about how the Virginia woman cut off her husband’s southern appendage with a knife, then threw it out her car window before calling 9-1-1.

"Where is she now?" you may wonder. Leave it to talk-show diva Oprah Winfrey to fill us in.

On today’s show, Oprah talks to Bobbitt, who did the dirty deed in 1993, as well as Tonya Harding, the former champion figure skater whose ex-husband and friends were arrested for whacking competitor Nancy Kerrigan in the leg with a metal baton, leaving her maimed, 15 years ago. The show, "Notorious Newsmakers of the ’90s," asks, "Where are they now?"

Bobbitt, who claimed her husband John Wayne abused her, is involved in domestic-violence prevention, and launched Lorena’s Red Wagon in 2007. She says she’s a much different woman now than she was 16 years ago. "Definitely time heals," she tells Oprah. "I evolve as a woman … It’s wonderful to actually learn from your mistakes and to apply it into your life."

As for Harding, who was banned from professional figure skating for life for hindering the prosecution and convicted for conspiracy, she claims she never wanted to stop Kerrigan from competing and was scared herself.

"Are you saying that, at the time, you thought somebody might come along and whack you in the knees?" Oprah says. "Yes," Tonya says.

We’re sure going to tune in!

Here’s a sneak peak at Oprah’s interview with Bobbitt, from "The Insider":

12 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Well - At least Lorena is concerned about being a safe driver!!

By Kris Merrill on 04/23/2009 11:05 am

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How can we ever forget either of them—*shivers*

By f p on 04/23/2009 11:15 am

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I was out of the country for both of these events: try explaining Tonya Harding to a classroom of Japanese schoolboys! What a great representative of American sportsmanship…..I won’t watch the show, but want to know if the next guest will be Amy Fischer?

By nanchan u on 04/23/2009 11:45 am

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Who really cares? I hope that these women really were able to "move on with their lives" as they say. Why not interview someone who has actually accomplished something instead? There are many unsung heroes who never get credit for living worthwhile lives without drama.

By Chris Glass` on 04/23/2009 2:24 pm

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I seriously doubt that Tanya has anything of real interest or substance to say to me…..

By Frau Quink on 04/23/2009 4:03 pm

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"I evolve as a woman … It’s wonderful to actually learn from your mistakes and to apply it into your life."
Lorena Bobbitt—-

Oye Vey….Can one possibly imagine the idiodacy of this "woman" (If one can call her that) I wonder what her ex-husband has gained from her learning from her mistake. I suppose I’d rather hear about how that poor guy is doing as I only hope it didn’t take him 16 years to heal from her mistake…….

By HA BIBI on 04/23/2009 4:53 pm

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Many seem to forget that what Lorena Bobbitt did was bodily dismemberment. She should have served time. You people can’t agree with that? Is society implying it’s ok to deal with problems in that manner? Leaving someone and bodily harm are two different things. Liberals out there who think Lorena Bobbitt is some kind of celebrity need to get a clue. A show like this proves why I have no respect for Oprah Winfrey and such hype-content ratings-tactics. Women in oppressive situations need to learn to LEAVE and be encouraged to get out of the situation.

By G L on 04/24/2009 1:56 am

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You’re not telling the whole story. After four years of long-term physical and emotional abuse and rape by a husband who flaunted his infidelities and made his wife get an abortion, one night after he raped her and fell asleep, Bobbitt cut half her husband’s penis off. Many women applauded her. The trial’s witnesses supported her and in the end she was declared not guilty by reason of insanity [she snapped]. In many ways that story brought home the fact that women all over suffer from domestic abuse and empowered some of them to leave abusive relationships.

The better question would be, "How much did her husband learn from HIS mistakes?"

They divorced and he formed a rock band called the "Severed Parts." He also starred in pornography as a means of earning money. He continued to be arrested for grand larceny and such and then for abusing his new fiance. Then he remarried and abused the new wife. The man has an obvious problem, has been in and out of court numerous times, has served jail sentences, but he’s currently out on the street. BEWARE!

By Andrea Brandon on 04/25/2009 12:40 pm

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Andrea,

He may have been a Jackass but that doesn’t give her the right to whack the wong, LOL. If he was so abusive to her then she needed to do as the other poster stated…..Learn to get out of abusive relationships, better yet "LEARN" not to get into them in the first place! Think about it, if a man caught his wife cheating on him….Does he get to cut her breasts off………Be careful as to where you place justification, as turn around can be considered fair play and not real pretty.

By HA BIBI on 04/25/2009 5:41 pm

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Don’t get me wrong - I do NOT advocate reacting to violence with violence. I merely gave a summary of the whole story. [However, I will admit that when I heard about this on the news so many years ago I cheered for her, as did most women.]

I’m in full agreement that girls must be made to understand that as adult women they have choices.

By Andrea Brandon on 04/26/2009 3:27 pm

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Glad to hear that Andrea! I’ll admit myself as well, that at the time the story came out, I too felt a slight vindication for her as "NO ONE" should be anyone’s emotional or physical punching bag. Yet at the same time, when we realize what it is she had done and applaud that sort of thing, then we subjugate ourselves to the possibility of some kook thinking that if this broad did this to her husband then the kook thinks that mutilating a woman is in order, if ever in the event she decides to become a scroundrel.

By HA BIBI on 04/26/2009 6:04 pm

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This interview was really outrageous. Oprah allowed the subject matter of a human being having an organ cut from their body by a spouse into a joke.

John Bobbit was the victim of very serious domestic violence in this case. He was aquitted of all the alleged DV charges brought by Lorena.

He was never charged for committing violence against Lorena.

If Lorena says he ‘forced’ her to have an abortion then where is the doctor? Doctors must obtain CONSENT from their patients or else they are committing a crime.

Surely that ‘woman’ Lorena doesn’t suggest that John held her down and performed the proceedure on her himself???

People, she is crazy.

You can’t believe her lies - she is like any criminal - she would have said ANYTHING to get herself out of trouble and avoid punishment.

WAKE UP.

She HAS NO RIGHT to head ANY domestic violence organisation. She is a confessed PERPETRATOR.

YES women can be and are sometimes the aggressors.

By Melissa Hyde on 07/06/2009 10:25 pm