EXCLUSIVE: 'I don't want a poor me story.' Mary Jo Buttafuoco 反映するs on 生き残るing 射撃 to her 直面する by ex-husband Joey's teen lover 30 years ago catapulting her into the スポットライト: Now she's content living a 静かな life in California

• e-mail

Thirty years ago 郊外の housewife Mary Jo Buttafuoco was 発射 in the 直面する by her husband's 16-year-old lover on the 前線 porch of their home in Massapequa, New York - a story that made headlines 世界的な.

The 弾丸, from a .25 caliber semiautomatic ピストル, 宿泊するd in the base of her brain above the spinal column. But the strong-willed Mary Jo 生き残るd, and then 耐えるd 多重の 外科s and facial 再建 along with the emotional 外傷／ショック of an unfaithful husband and his underage mistress.

Now, speaking to DailyMail.com in an 排除的 interview on the eve of the 周年記念日 of that fateful day, Mary Jo, 66, says, 'I don't want a ''poor me'' story.'

'I'm content, I'm happy, I'm very 感謝する. This is the most 平和的な time of my life, but it's been a hard-earned peace.'?

It was a スキャンダル the マスコミ couldn't get enough of, and Mary Jo, who is still 麻ひさせるd on one 味方する of her 直面する and deaf in one ear, says she was mocked over her 悲劇.

'It turned into this big joke,' she said.?

But she's finally 設立する peace living in the laid 支援する San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. And though she's lived there for 26 years, Mary Joe has 保持するd some of her Long Island forthrightness.

When asked if there were any misconceptions about her that she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 始める，決める straight, she replied, 'Ah no. There's been so much, honestly, I don't troll myself.'?

Thirty years ago 郊外の housewife Mary Jo Buttafuoco was 発射 in the 味方する of her 長，率いる by then-husband Joey's teenaged lover on the 前線 porch of their home in Massapequa, New York

Mary Jo's?compassion led her to be on the board of the Facial Paralysis 学校／設ける with the doctor who helped 再建する her 直面する in 2005

Mary Jo said s he was mocked over her 悲劇 at the time. 'It turned into this big joke,' she said. She's seen in a 1992 圧力（をかける） 会議／協議会 after the 狙撃?

Mary Jo's husband, Joey, was carrying on an 事件／事情／状勢 with Amy Fisher, who was just 16 years old at the time. The couple is seen in the above とじ込み／提出する photo with their two children?

Mary Jo tells DailyMail.com the family was 軍隊d to leave their home and move to the West Coast when life there became unbearable.

'These days when I'm 認めるd it's a 肯定的な thing. But 支援する then it was me at the grocery 蓄える／店 存在 星／主役にするd at, yelled at, ''What's wrong with you? Why are ya staying with that idiot?'' and worse.

'I'm a housewife, not a movie 星／主役にする, I wasn't used to it. I had two young children still in school, I had to think about them.'

Mary Jo stuck by Joey's 味方する through it all before calling it やめるs in 2003

The family packed up and 最初 settled in Agoura Hills, California, about 35 miles north of L.A.

'Moving here was not because I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to. I left my family, my friends, my support group, my doctors. Life had become impossible. My husband was a lunatic and had lost his 職業. I was out of it.?

'I was on Percocet and Xanax on a daily basis since '92, and I wasn't in my 権利 mind. I couldn't have 設立する Agoura Hills on a 地図／計画する. What brought us out here in 1996 was the school system.'

She 見積（る）s she's moved 20 times since then.?

'I've lived all over the valley in a big circle, West Hills, Woodland Hills, Oak Park, I've lived in downtown Newport/Laguna beach area, and in Las Vegas.?

'I just sort of trudged along, sick, 敗北・負かすd. I just thought no one will 認める me here and that's what I 手配中の，お尋ね者. 支援する then I didn't have my own 発言する／表明する like I do now.'

She finally 離婚d high school sweetheart Joey in 2003, but stayed in the area.

Year 一連の会議、交渉／完成する sunny days means she can 運動 15 minutes and be on the beach in Malibu.

'Mom is so 削減（する）,' her daughter Jessie, 38, said as she 長，率いるd out the door to work. 'She'll tell me, ''I'm going to the beach.'' She packs her lunch, 得る，とらえるs her little 議長，司会を務める and a 調書をとる／予約する, and off she goes a couple times a week.'

It's something she did in Long Island 同様に.?

'I'm a beach person, I grew up 近づく it,? went all the time, I just assumed 支援する then that everyone has an ocean to go to.'

Her 視野 has broadened since then.?

Joey Buttafuoco served six months for statutory 強姦 and Mary Jo stuck by his 味方する for a １０年間 after the 狙撃. She no longer speaks to Joey?

Mary Jo was 発射 in the 長，率いる in 1992 by 十代の少年少女 Amy Fisher, 17, (pictured with her lawyer) who had been having an 事件／事情／状勢 with her husband Joey

Amy ended up serving seven years in 刑務所，拘置所 for 強襲，強姦 with a deadly 武器

This is the family's home in Massapequa, New York where their lives were turned upside 負かす／撃墜する in 1992

'I'm a different person now. I'm much more compassionate. I have so much empathy, I feel what other people are feeling,' says Mary Jo, who now goes by her maiden 指名する, Connery.?

'Mom is so 削減（する）,' her daughter Jessie, 38, says as she 長，率いるs out the door to work. Mother and daughter are pictured together?

'I remember when the Nicole Brown Simpson [殺人] happened, two years after me, I was like, that was me, but I lived.?

'I was a young blonde mother-of-two, lying in a pool of 血 on my 前線 doorstep. I used to wonder why I lived and she didn't? You know you turn on the news and you see something that's happened and 即時に you're 権利 there with them, you feel what they're feeling and know how their life will change.'

Her compassion led her to be on the board of the Facial Paralysis 学校／設ける with Dr. Babak Azizzadeh, the doctor who helped 再建する her 直面する in 2005.

'They do such 広大な／多数の／重要な work. Now with Bell's Palsy and other things that can 原因（となる） the facial drooping it's so important to let people know there's help out there.?

'Now when I'm 認めるd it's a 肯定的な thing, people say that I helped them, 奮起させるd them in some way. That became my 動機づけ to 令状 a 調書をとる／予約する.?

Mary Jo penned the 2009 NY Times best 販売人 Getting It Through My 厚い Skull: Why I Stayed, What I've learned, And What Millions Of People 伴う／関わるd With Sociopaths Need To Know.?

Because of the 強襲，強姦 her 直面する is still 部分的に／不公平に 麻ひさせるd, she's deaf in her 権利 ear and the 弾丸 is still 宿泊するd in her neck.

?'I have a lot of the usual old lady aches and 苦痛s, the hip 傷つけるs, the 支援する 傷つけるs, you know the 団体／死体 says you 'Oh, you wanna do that?' But I was just telling Jessie, this is the most 平和的な time of my life. Mentally I'm in a good place.'?

Sober for more than two １０年間s, she lives just minutes away from her son Paul, 42, and granddaughter, and lives with her daughter

Sober for more than two １０年間s, she lives just minutes away from her son Paul, 42, and granddaughter, and lives with her daughter.

She no longer speaks to ex Joey.

Mary Jo's second marriage to 実業家 Stu Tendler ended in 離婚 but they remained friends until his passing in 2018.

As for dating in her 未来, the question remains open.??

'Can you imagine me on Match.com, and having to sit across from someone and explain all of this? No way! If something happens organically, 罰金. If not, I'm perfectly happy. I hang out with my kids and granddaughter, I read, I paint, I'm content,' she said.?

The Covid-19 pandemic put a 持つ／拘留する on her speaking 約束／交戦s for the last two years but she 計画（する）s on starting them 支援する up again.

Mary Jo's 経営者／支配人 Melody 嵐／襲撃する tells the DailyMail.com there is a 事業／計画（する） in the 作品 on her tumultuous but now 平和的な life.?