JOHN Wayne Bobbitt is used to pain.
The former Marine, who infamously had his penis mutilated by his ex-wife, says his time in the services taught him how to deal with sudden flashes of serious discomfort.
Yet because of his time spent at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in the late 80s, before he became a household name across the world for all the wrong reasons, Bobbitt fell victim to sickening neurological and physical issues caused by severely contaminated water.
While some have suffered various forms of cancer, Bobbitt has been struck with Toxic Peripheral Polyneuropathy, which causes nerve damage and contributes to the emergence of osteomyelitis, a bone infection that gives him ulcers and necessitates painful skin grafts.
Nerves in the feet, legs, hands, and arm are at risk from irreparable damage.
The last of his operations in 2023 was to remove the rest of his toes, leaving him unable to work and seeking a slice of the $1 billion compensation claim signed off by President Joe Biden at the White House two years ago.
He had no idea of the issues when his life was falling apart in 1993, but he does now.
Doctors initially were baffled. Wounds weren't healing and as the poisoned water was yet to be revealed, he was treated for ulcers and sent on his way.
When Bobbitt meets with The U.S. Sun in his new Sarasota, Florida home, he enters the room with a noticeable limp. He's donning specially crafted prosthetic shoes, concealing yet another injury on his already battered body.
He removes his socks, unveiling two crafted stumps that appear agonizingly raw. Yet, owing to chronic nerve damage, he remains impervious to any sensation whatsoever.
In what has been described as "one of the worst water contamination cases in US history," oil, industrial wastewater, and toxic chemicals used as degreasers and solvents were all knowingly dumped in the local storm drains at the army base between 1952 and 1987, contaminating the local water supply for 35 years.
"The government covered it up for 40 years," Bobbitt told The U.S. Sun in a wide-ranging interview about the last three decades and the uncertain times that follow.
"They knew."
He vividly recalls the water tasting sweet, a by-product of the vinyl chloride - a colorless, flammable, toxic gas used principally in making polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, a widely used plastic.
"They were testing the water and it was like up to 3,500 times above normal safety standards," he said.
While Bobbitt says he has "three sets" of attorneys fighting for his rights, he's adamant the deep mental and physical scars caused by his time at Lejeune were a contributing factor to his stormy relationship with Venezuelan Lorena.
"I wasn't behaving the way I should have," he said.
"Maybe I would have made better decisions if my cognitive functioning wasn't distorted by the chemicals."
It was on June 23, 1993, in Manassas, Virginia, when Lorena, who to this very day claims violent abuse forced her into action and that she was raped that night, took a kitchen knife to his privates.
She threw the piece of mangled member out of the car before cops were able to retrieve it and put it on ice in a hot dog box picked up at a nearby 7-Eleven.
Surgeons produced a minor miracle by reattaching what had been sawn off with the razor sharp 8-inch blade.
Bobbitt, who went on to star in a porn film, have a penis reduction and get married twice, has long maintained his innocence and pleaded with The U.S. Sun to look through police records of the rape trial, which preceded the hearing which saw Lorena escape jail time.
She was found guilty of temporary insanity and spent 45 days in a mental institution before returning to her life as a manicurist.
In the marital sexual charge, Lorena claimed her then-husband raped and violently abused her, although Bobbitt was acquitted.
What he was at pains to point out, however, was how he claimed Lorena had been influenced by former boss Janna Bisutti.
He says a "false narrative" was put into place and has haunted him to this very day.
"Janna was a cerebral narcissist, saying that I raped (Lorena) but there was no proof that I ever abused her at all," claimed Bobbitt, who says he endured the "silent treatment" for two months as tensions rose.
"She was the abusive one, attacking me. A lot of times guys don't stand up for themselves, they just shrug it off."
Bisutti, who reportedly persuaded Lorena to tell cops as to the whereabouts of the chopped-off penis, stood by her at the culmination of the trial.
"She did once and will again seek her American dream when she is able, and if the publicity of her abuse can help one person find freedom, then all of this is not in vain," Bisutti read in a statement at the end of court proceedings.
The U.S. Sun contacted Bisutti via email, but didn't hear back.
The problems between Bobbitt and Lorena continued however - the now 57-year-old stresses he was ready to leave her - with the final, painful straw coming when he lied about his whereabouts, preferring to say he stayed in a hotel than admit to hitting some bars with a pal.
He decided to stay and go to sleep - and woke up covered in blood and had half of his penis missing.
Jurors in the malicious wounding case concluded temporary insanity was at play, yet Bobbitt is adamant the truth lies amongst the reports collated ahead of his own trial for rape.
"It was not publicized, pretty much pushed under the rug," he moaned.
"Mine was factual, hers was just all fiction. It was a false narrative, lies and made-up stories."
"There's probably a lot of people that would like to hear the truth, probably really a lot of intelligent people would like to hear the whole story from beginning to end how Janna covered it all up," Bobbitt continued.
"That was her behind closed doors. She's the one that basically created the false testimony."
He is sure, however, that perhaps the whole unseemly mess could have been avoided had he never drank and trained in the toxic water at Camp Lejeune all those years ago.
"There is a saying that truth is the antidote to chaos," Bobbitt concluded.
"Things can be a lot better if you tell the truth. My heart was ripped out but she has her story, and I have mine."
