JOHN Wayne Bobbitt wants to finally put an end to one of most acrimonious marriage splits of all time - with an apology.
It has been over 30 years since John Wayne's ex-wife Lorena sliced off his penis as their stormy marriage exploded in a fit of bloody rage.
The shocking incident in June 1993 made headlines all over the world and the couple, who were married for four years, both went through court cases that laid bare the violence and lack of trust in their relationship.
Lorena maintained her ex-Marine husband subjected her to viscous domestic abuse and rape, charges which the now 57-year-old was cleared of after being hit with a marital sex charge.
Venezuelan Lorena's malicious wounding trial ended with her sent to a mental institution for 45 days after the court concluded she was temporarily insane, which led her to mutilate John Wayne while he slept.
The recriminations have flown back and forth ever since.
Lorena says she was raped on the night she took a knife to her husband's groin, while John Wayne, in an exclusive sit-down with The U.S. Sun, claims he was on the verge of leaving her after "two months of the silent treatment."
It was also insinuated that the brutal act was borne out of pure anger and a lack of trust.
John Wayne has tried to get his life back together moving to sunny Florida to be closer to family and friends, yet he's now lost all his toes after allegedly falling victim to the water poisoning scandal at army base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where he was stationed in the late 80s.
He has been suffering from Toxic Peripheral Polyneuropathy which has caused irreparable nerve damage in his feet and caused serious neurological issues.
He is hoping for a sizeable pay-out, especially after President Joe Biden signed off a $1 billion compensation claim in 2022.
The bitterness of his divorce from Lorena, however, remains and, when asked by The U.S Sun, about what he would say to his first wife, who has since remarried and had a child in Virginia, John Wayne becomes engulfed with emotion.
"I would hope she would speak up and admit she made a mistake," he said with a tremor in his voice.
"We could have worked it out and had a family."
John Wayne says Lorena's silent treatment was never mentioned in her trial, and admits to making a series of errors of judgment - some of which he puts down to cognitive issues caused by drinking the toxic, polluted waters at Camp Lejeune.
He says "the truth will come out." Yet he knows he was also to blame.
He recalls petty arguments about Christmas trees and crucially lying about where he had been on the night of his manhood being severed in a blood-stained bed.
There were bust-ups with some of John Wayne's family, with claims Lorena kicked out his brother and wife in the middle of the night after a disagreement following a day at an amusement park and forcing them to drive back to Delaware.
He also believes that with Lorena's U.S. citizenship heading into its final 12 months, the uncertainty " played a factor" in their dispute.
However, John Wayne fears he fanned the flames of Lorena's "controlling behavior" by applying to work at the door of a nearby nightclub.
This only fueled her suspicions of affairs with other women, he said.
Why couldn't she have waited until the morning to talk to me? Why did she do it?
John Wayne Bobbitt
Three days before the attack, he claims to have told her about plans to divorce.
Lorena, however, according to John wayne, became very upset and begged him to reconsider, claiming her faith taught her never to believe in divorce.
In between, a local girl had given him a bicycle and invited him to a party, which strengthened Lorena's fears about infidelity before she grabbed a kitchen knife and bludgeoned herself into American folklore.
John Wayne was stitched back together and the pair attempted to carry on with their lives, despite the watching world continuing to grimace at the grizzly outcome.
It wasn't easy for either, yet the man who will always be known for having his manhood saved by cops, who found his severed member by the side of the road and quickly placed it in a hot dog box packed full of ice, has no regrets.
"She was a really good woman, we could have had a great life together," John Wayne, who said the pair had split for a year in the middle of their troubled tryst, continued. "Things got difficult though. She didn't want anyone around me, she was jealous."
"We were just trying to punish each other," he added.
He's convinced manicurist Lorena's boss, Janna Bisutti, helped create a "false narrative" which didn't tell the whole story about their tempestuous relationship.
"It haunts me," John Wayne said.
Yet other problems contributed to their downfall.
"We just didn't have a support system," he said. "We had no one around us who cared and was able to help us through any difficulties."
But can anyone be excused for taking a knife to the nether regions?
"Yes, I could forgive her," John Wayne said.
"The attack affected me differently because I was a Marine and trained for combat.
"I knew when they were able to put it back on I would be ok because I had healed pretty good.
"But why couldn't she have waited until the morning to talk to me? Why did she do it?
"She's still saying I'm a monster but I just want my name back. I want closure."
