Connie Culp And Her Daughter

'My daughter's words were the wake-up call I needed': Face transplant recipient Connie Culp tells Anderson Cooper why she finally divorced the man who shot her in the face

By Rachel Quigley
Last updated at 11:25 PM on 6th October 2011

He abused her and brainwashed her for years until he eventually flew into a jealous rage and shot her in the face, almost killing her and leaving a gaping hole where her features used to be.

But still Connie Culp - the first U.S. face transplant recipient - could not divorce her husband and kept in contact with him while he was in jail for her attempted murder.

Speaking to Anderson Cooper, Connie explains that it was only when her daughter pointed out that she would 'go back to the man who blew your head off' did she wake up and take action.

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She divorced her husband in March this year after 25 years of marriage.

Thomas Culp was convicted of attempted aggravated murder and was sentenced to only seven years in prison for the shooting, which took place in September 2004. He was recently released.

Cooper quizzes Connie - who was accompanied by her sister Bonnie - on why it took her such a long time to divorce Culp.


She said: 'I always said I was, but I had such a hard time dealing with that. You have to list everything, and it brought so much memories.

'It's really hard to divorce somebody. It's like, I don't know, losing the half of you. I just couldn't get myself to finish filling out those papers.'

Her sister Bonnie, who was the one who found Connie after she had been shot, said: 'Because she never thought she was abused, that's why, until recently, until people started telling her.

'And a light came on. Her daughter was the one that really helped her.'

Connie continued: 'You know what my daughter said to me? Her and her boyfriend was fighting, and I was upset. I told her, "You've got to get away from him. He's no good for you."

'And she said, "What kind of example are you setting for me? You'd go back to the man that blew your head off." And I'm like, "Oh, my God." It was a wake-up call.'

When Culp shot his wife after they argued about her talking to anther man, the blast shattered her nose, cheeks, the roof of her mouth and an eye, leaving a gaping hole.

Hundreds of fragments of shotgun pellets and bone splinters were embedded in her face and after emergency surgery she could only breathe by having a tube inserted in her windpipe.

In December of 2008, Connie made medical history when she became the first person in the United States to receive a face transplant. The operation at Cleveland Clinic lasted 22 hours. Eight surgeons replaced 80 percent of Connie's face.

The anchorman-turned-talk show host revealed to the audience that Connie stayed in contact with her husband after he went to jail and at one stage was even calling him every day.

Connie admitted it and said she probably would have accepted him back into her home only for what her daughter said and when she went to see him and confronted him about abusing her.


She said: 'I went to go and see him one time and I went and said, "Do you think you abused me?" and he said no.

'And then he laughed and i asked him again and he said, "Well maybe verbally".'

Culp recently released a statement to the media saying the shooting was an accident.

He said: 'We loved each other more than anybody I know. The public doesn't get it. The shooting was accidental. I totally understand why people believe I'm a monster. I'm not. I'm not a monster.'


Speaking about the statement to Connie, Anderson Cooper pointed out that her husband was almost making it out like he was the victim and asked her why she was continuing to defend her behaviour.

She replied: 'I always have. Because I know his whole life, like growing up, everything.

'I met him when I was 15 and we ran away together when we were 16. I still have feelings for him. He taught me everything I know. I have two kids to him.

Her sister Bonnie said: 'She doesn't think she was abused because she was brainwashed by him for so many years, that's all she has ever known.

'Now she is learning to be strong on her own.'