What A Difference 16 Years Can Make

I wasn't sure what to expect from Mary Jo Buttafuoco when I agreed to a one-on-one interview with her this week. But I'll say this: she is NOTHING like the woman she was during the sordid tabloid drama that began on Long Island in May 1992 and dragged on through the headlines for a decade and a half.

I expected a -- rightfully -- angry woman to rail against the man who ruined her life, Joey Buttafuoco. I expected her to deride the ex-con and cheater who transferred sole blame onto his 17-year-old lover for shooting her in the face. I expected vitriol towards Joey, who continues to pull her family's name into national punchlines by perpetrating a number of crimes and by peddling a pathetic sex tape.

I also expected indignation at Amy Fischer, her now-free attempted murderer who's out peddling the same kind of dirty video.

Instead, I found Mary Jo to be an enlightened, forgiving woman who has not only put this foul past behind her, but who has also embraced personal happiness and optimism.

The woman I spent 20 minutes interviewing live -- an eternity on TV -- is a woman I would happily welcome into my home and to my dinner table, and a woman I would readily introduce to my children. She has a few lessons I would like my children to learn.

Mary Jo can teach us a thing or two about love, loss, pain, suffering and the value of forgiveness. It took her eloquence and sincerity to finally help me understand how and why she stood by Joey Buttafuoco for so long.

I, like so many others following this unbelievable tale, had been mystified. Not anymore. Mary Jo's living a new life, she's about to marry a new man, and she's got a whole new outlook that just might be more refreshing than anything I've encountered in this business before.

To say it shows on her face sounds like a cliché. But it does. She's become more beautiful than she ever was, even before the shooting.