Whatever Happened To Amy Fisher?
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Amy Fisher's crime story captivated the nation in the early '90s, spawning the nickname, the "Long Island Lolita," but what's happened in the years since this saga unfolded?
Let's start things off with a quick refresher on the sensational case: At the heart of it was "a romance between a 38-year-old auto-body repairman and a 17-year-old high school senior," reported the New York Daily News. Their 18-month affair came to a head in May 1992, when Fisher showed up at the Buttafuocos' home to confront his wife. When the missus answered the door, Fisher reportedly "pulled the trigger, shooting 37-year-old [Mary Jo] in the head," reported Rolling Stone.
Fisher fled, but Mary Jo survived and was able to identify the teen as the shooter. Fisher eventually pleaded guilty to assault, serving almost seven years in prison before her release in 1999. Joey pleaded guilty to statutory rape in 1993 and was sentenced to six months behind bars. The Buttafuocos divorced in 2003, but whatever happened to the Long Island Lolita? Let's pick up the story there...
She wrote books and a newspaper column
After her release from prison in 1999, Amy Fisher's attorney, Bruce A. Barket, told The New York Times that his client wanted "time to relax with her mom and get acquainted with private normal life. No book deals or media madness."
At that point, Fisher had already co-authored 1993's Amy Fisher: My Story, which details her past as a teenage prostitute and her take on the Buttafuoco affair.
Fisher later scored a column for the Long Island Press, and in 2004, she co-authored If I Knew Then... with the paper's editor-in-chief. After promoting the book, Fisher quit her column, though the paper had good things to say about her writing skills. Editor Jed Morey said she "wound up crafting one of the cleanest, least edited columns we have ever run ... After the book-tour hoopla and talk shows died down, the reality of a columnist's pay became all too real and we parted ways."
A sex tape and reality TV couldn't save her marriage
Amy Fisher married former New York City police officer Louis Bellera in 2003. Four years later, Bellera reportedly sold a private sex tape of the couple to Red Light District Video, reported the New York Daily News. Fisher initially tried to block its release and sued the distributor for copyright infringement, but by 2008, she had reportedly signed off on the tape's release.
According to the Daily Mail, Fisher and Bellera were separated when the tape was released. In fact, she reportedly attempted to reunite with Joey Buttafuoco at that time. The former flames did a lot of press together in what appeared to be a failed attempt to stir up interest in a reality show. When that fling ended, she reunited with Bellera.
In 2011, Fisher did land a reality show, appearing on VH1's Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew and also appearing on Couples Therapy with Bellera. That same year, Buttafuoco grabbed some headlines too, when he competed against Bellera in a Celebrity Fight Night charity boxing match. The guys didn't even wait to get into the ring before brawling.
Perhaps becoming just a bit tired of the drama, Radar Online reported that Bellera filed for divorce from Fisher in 2015. They had three children together during their 12 years of marriage.
She became a porn star
Despite reportedly pledging to only support one sex tape — the one Bellera released during their separation — Fisher eventually dove into a full-fledged career in the adult entertainment industry.
In January 2009, the New York Daily News reported that she signed on to star in a pay-per-view adult video. "I just have a fascination with the adult world, I think it's very cool," she said. "And it's a very forgiving industry — everything goes, everyone's nice, and I'm just having a great time." By 2010, the New York Post (via Fox News) reported that Fisher had signed on for eight more films.
However, Fisher changed her tune during her stint on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (via the Daily Mail), claiming she pursued that line of work because she felt like she had no other choice. "I make adult films, and I look at it as they are offering employment," she said on the show. "I need employment, no one else will give me employment ... I don't know what else to do."
She claims reality TV exploited her drug and alcohol problem
Fisher appeared on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew in 2011 to cope with issues stemming from alcohol and prescription drugs. "I have [had] a major, major problem with pills my whole life, and I like them," she admitted during a group therapy session on the VH1 reality show. "And I knew that wasn't good for me, so I discovered alcohol, and I was able to put down the pills — but then I picked up alcohol. I justified it that it's legal."
However, Fisher also claimed in 2011 that the show was exploiting her "past troubles." She took to Twitter (via Jezebel) to air her grievances: "BTW, when I don't defend myself after Celeb Rehab airs it's [because] they had me sign a contract where I'm not allowed to defend myself. It's nuts."
She threw shade at Mary Jo Buttafuoco for years
Amy Fisher still seemed to have it out for Mary Jo Buttafuoco years after Fisher was released from prison and the Buttafuocos divorced.
In 2008, five years after Joey and Mary Jo's divorce, Fisher slammed her victim in an interview with Steppin' Out (via Fox News). "Mary Jo is a nonentity," she said. "People are angry at me because I'm a millionaire. But guess what? So is Mary Jo! She made more millions off of what I did..."
The bullet from Fisher's gun is still lodged in Mary Jo's neck because it's too dangerous to remove, but Fisher says that's no big deal. "The fact that Mary Jo has a bullet in her head means nothing! I still have silicone in my boobs, and you don't hear me complaining. She can't feel her bullet, and I can't feel my silicone." Adding salt to the wound, Fisher added that she only attempted to reunite with Joey Buttafuoco in 2007 to "p— Mary Jo off," claiming she grew tired of her former flame after a week.
Mary Jo forgave her
In an August 2018 episode of Oxygen's Snapped, Mary Jo Buttafuoco reveals that she became addicted to painkillers during her recovery from the gunshot wound, which left her deaf in one ear and partially paralyzed on one side of her face. She went to the Betty Ford Center to treat her drug habit, and that's reportedly when she learned to let go.
"It was kind of there that through the program they said to me, 'You know, Mary, you survived. You're alive. Now, what do you want to do for the rest of your life? Are you going to feel like this for the rest of your life?' It was a slow turnaround," she recalled in the special (via Fox News). "I sobered up and I realized, 'You're right... I can't feel like this anymore."
Buttafuoco decided she had to get Amy Fisher out of her head. "I got to let you go because you're killing me again all over again," she said in the segment. "It sounds so cliche ... It's just a process that when you have something like this, you have to move forward. To move forward you have to forgive. You have to."
She went back to her roots ... in more ways than one
Amy Fisher — who reportedly goes by "Liz" now (her middle name is Elizabeth) — returned to her Long Island roots in 2017 after living in Florida for years with Louis Bellera. She said she relocated to try to give her children a better life.
"My kids were ostracized in Florida. They had no friends. All the mothers thought their kids would get the Amy Fisher gene if they hung out with them," she told the New York Post. "Things got so bad for my [eldest] son, the school psychologist even suggested he drop out and get his GED." Fisher also said she feared for their safety in the Sunshine State, claiming a stalker tried to jump the fence in her gated community. In Long Island, she'd be around her "big Italian family" and would feel more secure, reported the New York Post. "I want a private life," she said.
As for her adult film career? Fisher claims that was all Bellera's idea. "I was never happy doing it, and he would just sit there and watch, even while I cried," she said. Bellera denied those claims. While Fisher may not be making full-blown films anymore, the New York Post reported in 2017 that she was making "peep shows" online from the home she shares with her kids and her mom. In October 2017, Fisher reportedly put that place on the market.