A teenage girl who was having an affair with Mary Jo Buttafuoco’s husband, Joey, shot Mary Jo in the head on the porch of her home in the Long Island, New York, suburbs on May 19, 1992. The police quickly detained Amy Fisher, 17, and charged her with first-degree attempted murder. Joey initially attempted to deny having intercourse with Amy when she was 16 years old, but after being found guilty of statutory rape, he now views their prior relationship as improper. Jessica Buttafuoco, the daughter of Joey and Mary Jo, speaks to ABC News for their edition of “20/20,” “Growing Up Buttafuoco,” about the family’s path following that awful day.
Who Is Jessica Buttafuoco?
Jessica Buttafuoco, who goes by Jessie and was born on March 29, 1983, was just 9 years old when her mother was shot. She acknowledged to ABC that she has battled her family’s notoriety her whole life, but she also said that she is now prepared to let go of the past and recover both her own identity and the honour of her family’s name. Jessie revealed that the performing arts had become her refuge because she had grown up in the spotlight with no sense of normalcy at all. “I played a character when I was on stage. It was wonderful to escape from that reality and realise that I wasn’t Jessie Buttafuoco, she added. “Because I’m always on, my friends call me Showtime. I have the ability to make you smile, laugh, and be joyful. But the true me is struggling, in agony, and trying to make sense of life.
She continued, “I’m really trying to dive deep and figure out why I operate the way that I function, and how I can change and be a better person and help other people along the road. This is what I want to do to heal from the damage that the trauma has done to my mind. The thing that truly saddens me the most about all of this is that I am completely incapable of loving anyone. All I’ve ever known, since I was nine years old, is that sex, love, and closeness result in awful things. It’s really difficult for me to even consider the existence of love. I didn’t get that, therefore changing is incredibly difficult. Later on in the programme, Jessie also discussed how all of this had a negative impact on her relationship with her father.
Jessie had serious drinking, drug (cocaine) and food difficulties while she was a college student. She later learned that her father was meeting with Amy Fisher to participate on TV shows and reunion specials. Naturally, she took exception to this and became so enraged that she temporarily stopped communicating with him. Jessie did mention in the episode that she now gets along well with him, especially now that he’s older. Her Father’s Day post from this year, which we have included below, demonstrates the contrary. On “Saturday Night Live,” Madonna can be seen tearing up Joey Buttafuoco’s photograph.
Where Is Jessica Buttafuoco Today?
Continually involved in the performing arts is Jessie Buttafuoco. She wishes to give it for others by creating children’s theatre and directing after-school theatre programmes for them because she discovered calm and solace in it as a youngster. She started a Kickstarter effort in 2018 to raise money for a film on her story called “Infamy’s Infant.” But the documentary was scrapped because she was unable to amass the required sum. Having said that, certain stories do imply that she is still actively attempting to bring about this initiative. Even her own contributions to the 2006 Comic Relief Campaign or 2017’s “Medias Res” may have helped you recognise Jessie.
Currently, Jessie Buttafuoco is the former host of the podcasts “This is Murder Podcast” and “Live Your Life Kween Podcast.” She co-hosted Shane and Friends, an audio-visual podcast produced by YouTuber Shane Dawson, from 2014 until 2017. Jessie herself has a YouTube channel where she occasionally posts videos that are either humorous or informative. With a series of advise videos where her followers have submitted questions they need answered, it is primarily made up of the latter. Unlike her brother, this clinical psychologist, mental health media consultant, and wellness intern has preserved her last name; she even attributes her turbulent upbringing and raw, unfiltered sense of humour to this.
