Incident

Mary Jo's husband, Joey Buttafuoco, had an affair with Amy Fisher, who subsequently shot her in the face, on May 19, 1992. Although deafened in one ear and her face partially paralyzed, she survived the shooting and was able to give a description of her assailant and a T-shirt that Fisher had shown her before she shot her.

Aftermath

Joey Buttafuoco pleaded guilty to one count of statutory rape and served four months in jail. Mary Jo and her husband later moved to Southern California, where she eventually filed divorce papers in Ventura County Superior Court on February 3, 2003.

In 2006, Mary Jo underwent a facial reanimation procedure with facial plastic surgeon Babak Azizzadeh, involving static facial suspension, face lift, and eye lift procedures. These surgeries restored balance and gave her back her ability to smile. Next was surgery to widen the ear canal, which improved her hearing and prevented future infections. She also underwent physical therapy to strengthen her facial muscles, which she explained in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Book

Sixteen years after the incident Buttafuoco wrote a book telling her story, Getting It Through My Thick Skull: Why I Stayed, What I Learned, and What Millions of People Involved with Sociopaths Need to Know. She was inspired to write the book after her son referred to her ex-husband as a sociopath. Not knowing what the word meant she looked it up and had a realization leading to her going public with her story.

Charities

Mary Jo Buttafuoco supports the following charitable cause: Women's Issues.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]