Buttafuoco Talks About Her "Thick Skull"

Seventeen years ago, Mary Jo Buttafuoco was shot in the head by Amy Fisher, the so-called "Long Island Lolita."

And now, she's released a book about her experience called "Getting It Through My Thick Skull". Buttafuoco joined "The Early Show" Wednesday, to discuss her book and what she's learned.

Buttafuoco, who stayed with her husband, Joey Buttafuoco, for 10 years after his mistress shot her, told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez she had a revelation after talking with her son two years ago. She said her son told her Joey was a sociopath.

Buttafuoco said the talk sparked an online search for the word's meaning.

"I went on the Internet and explored what that meant. When I looked at all of the traits, I said, 'Oh my God, this is what I've been with all of my life,'" she said. "It sent me on this journey to realize and understand sociopaths and how they affect people's lives."

Some of the traits, she said, also described her ex-husband as "charming," "extremely loveable," "smart" and "funny."

She said, "They can convince you that white is black is black and white and have you believe it."

Buttafuoco said Joey claimed he had nothing to do with Fisher's plans.
She added that he told her Fisher was just a crazy customer.

In hindsight, Buttafuoco told CBS News she believes Fisher and Joey were involved with each other.

"He swore up and down," she said. "(Sociopaths) have no remorse or sense of conscience. That's another trait. Because they don't, they can live with their lies."

Joey Buttafuoco released a statement, which Rodriguez referenced on "The Early Show."

Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in response to the news that her ex-husband released a statement, said "Oh goodie."

"He said he would prefer to be diagnosed as a sociopath by a doctor rather than by his ex-wife," Rodriguez said. "And he felt victimized by your accusation."

But is he a victim?

Buttafuoco said Joey isn't; rather, she said, he's a "very cunning sociopath."

"It's never (him). It's everybody else… I like the word he used, how ironic - 'victimized?' He is the one that started all of this, and did all this. That's a typical sociopathic trait. 'It's never my fault. It's everybody else's fault.'"

Buttafuoco told CBS News that the most difficult part of writing the book was reliving the events of the day she was shot and acknowledging to herself the reality of the situation.

She said, "The hardest part was admitting that I was wrong all those years and that I had been fooled, and made a fool of."

Rodriguez remarked the book explicitly goes over the events of the day she was shot, and also her recovery that involved a nurse inserting an extra-long wooden Q-tip directly into the bullet hole to disinfect the area.

Buttafuoco said she experienced that "torture" for months.

"It was agony," she told Rodriguez. I hope nobody knows what that feels like."

The gunshot wound, Buttafuoco told CBS News, left her deaf in her right ear and partially paralyzed on the right side of her face and in part of her esophagus.

She also commented on her reconciliation with Fisher.

"I forgave her," Buttafuoco said. "That was for my peace and for me to move on."

However, as for Fisher's path in life, Buttafuoco said, "What she has chosen to do with her life is very sad. It's disappointing.

"She has three children. And for me, that's the sad part. These children didn't ask for any of this. It's going to haunt them all of their lives. It's bad enough what she did. She could have made something of herself and gotten better. And instead, she's just kind of really gone downhill."

Stu Tendler, Buttafuoco's fiancé, who also appeared on "The Early Show", called Mary Jo "incredible."

"I'm behind her 100 percent on this book. She believes what she says in the book and wants other people to read it and understand how to see these traits in their loved ones."