Joe Exotic has announced that he’s tied the knot despite being in the midst of a 21-year federal prison sentence.
The Tiger King star, 62, revealed on Tuesday he got married to fellow inmate Jorge Flores Maldonado.
It comes as he is currently serving his sentence after being convicted in 2019 of hiring hitmen to kill his zookeeper rival Carole Baskin.Â
Someone shared a photoshopped picture of the couple in suits for their wedding day and humorously mentioned their pride in their husband, Jorge Flores Maldonado.
Joe shared the news of their engagement back in October, as he told fans: ‘Meet Jorge Marquez he is 33. He is so amazing and is from Mexico.’
While Jorge was serving time at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, plans were made to get married in prison and explore options for asylum to avoid leaving America once they are both released.
Joe Exotic has announced that he’s tied the knot despite being in the midst of a 21-year federal prison sentence
The Tiger King star, 62, revealed on Tuesday he got married to fellow inmate Jorge Flores MaldonadoÂ
‘Either way, I wish I would have met him long ago.’Â
The Tiger King star, also known Joseph Maldonado-Passage, submitted a marriage application to the federal prison to wed Marquez.
His now-husband is serving time for immigration-related issues, according to a report from CBS News.
Despite the challenges, both men remained positive about their wedding application being approved and expressed hope for success in Exotic’s appeal of his conviction for hiring hitmen to kill Carole Baskin, along with the rest of his case.
He claims to have evidence such as ‘video confessions under oath’ and ‘700 phone recordings of federal agents.’
In his news release at the time, Joe requested a presidential pardon for himself and his fiancé, as well as asylum for Marquez.
‘I wish someone that is President or wins the Presidency would do the right thing and pardon me so I could move past this nightmare that my own country has caused for the last 7 years of my life,’ Maldonado shared.Â
‘All I did was build a zoo and some people were very jealous. Then I was put into prison by my own country.’
In a phone interview with Entertainment Tonight last year Maldonado-Passage disclosed the details about where the process stood at the time.
It comes as he is currently serving his sentence after being convicted in 2019 of hiring hitmen to kill his zookeeper rival Carole BaskinÂ
Joe shared the news of their engagement back in October, as he told fans: ‘Meet Jorge Marquez he is 33. He is so amazing and is from Mexico’Â
‘We love each other very much, spend every minute of the day together,’ the star of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness revealedÂ
‘We filed our official papers for the marriage license from the prison yesterday, so we’re just waiting for an approval,’ Exotic explained. ‘He has picked out December 12 as the date we’re hoping to get this approved by.’
He claimed their marriage application ‘had to be approved by the warden and psychiatry and the chaplain’ before their license could be approved.Â
‘We love each other very much, spend every minute of the day together,’ the star of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness revealed.
He added, ‘I’ve been through some s**t in my days. I buried two husbands, the third one ran off with $2.6 million bucks from Netflix and left my a** here, but Jorge is a very amazing young man.’
Exotic was previously married to the late Travis Maldonado, who passed away after accidentally shooting himself in 2017.
Maldonado was a 19-year-old from California with a history of drug addiction, which was detailed in the Netflix show.
He arrived at Exotic’s zoo in 2013 on the recommendation of a mutual acquaintance, the series explains.
It was hoped that by working with animals, Maldonado would be able to manage his addiction and Exotic put him to work on his animal park – but the pair soon became romantically-linked.
Not long after his arrival, Exotic married Maldonado, who was 32 years his junior, and John Finlay in a three-way ceremony.
The Kansas native has been pushing for his conviction to be overturned
Exotic was previously married to the late Travis Maldonado, who passed away after accidentally shooting himself in 2017. He was also engaged to Dillon Passage (seen together), whom he hooked up with two months laterÂ
Joe was in a polyamorous relationship with Travis (seen) and John Finlay, 36, at the time they had an unofficial three-partner wedding in 2015, before he and Finlay had a falling out
Maldonado was a 19-year-old from California with a history of drug addiction, which was detailed in the Netflix show
Joe was also engaged to Dillon Passage, whom he hooked up with two months after Travis’ death.
Their relationship ended when they decided to part ways in 2020 and then file for divorce the following year.Â
Joe announced in December 2022: ‘Just waiting on the final order from the judge!’
Texan bartender Dillon, 29, – who’s been dating fitness trainer John Devarti since July 2021 – took to Instastory to reveal it took ‘four drafts’ for Joe (born Joseph Allen Schreibvogel) to finally sign off.
‘It’s been a battle and tens of thousands of dollars spent over the past year and a half trying to be released from my own kind of prison,’ Dillon wrote.
‘But it was all so worth it! Excited to move forward with my life and with my amazing partner John @devarti_j who supports me in all things! Next step: engineering school!’
Passage can no longer ‘distribute, profit from, sell, transfer or use’ any of the likenesses of Maldonado and there is a non-disparagement agreement in place – according to TMZ.
Dillon and Joe tied the knot in December of 2017, just two months after Travis died at 23-years-old of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Joe was in a polyamorous relationship with Travis and John Finlay, 36, at the time they had an unofficial three-partner wedding in 2015, before he and Finlay had a falling out.
Carole Baskin was at the center of the murder for hire plot that sent Exotic to prison
Exotic is ‘optimistic’ that he will be freed from prison in 2025, and already has ideas for life after being behind bars that includes a career in academia
He was arrested in September of 2018.
In 2019, Exotic was convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison on 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for hire for the plot to kill Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin.
Two years later, after filing a motion for a new trial, a U.S appeals court ruled that the convictions for the two murder attempts were wrongly treated as separate, and as a result reduced his sentence by one year, and ultimately resentencing him to 21 years in prison in late January 2022.
Exotic has been subject to substantial criticism, especially for the controversies surrounding his feud with Baskin and the treatment of animals at the G.W. Zoo.
He has been featured in several documentaries, including the hit Netflix series Tiger King (2020-2021), which showcased his career as a zookeeper and his feud with Baskin, and two from Louis Theroux titled America’s Most Dangerous Pets (2011) and Shooting Joe Exotic (2021).
There’s also been a television drama show based mainly on the relationship between Carole Baskin and Joe Exotic called Joe vs. Carole that aired on Peacock on March 3, 2022.
Exotic is ‘optimistic’ that he will be freed from prison in 2025, and already has ideas for life after being behind bars that includes a career in academia.
The plan is for him to one day share his wealth of tiger knowledge in an educational setting, which could play out by him giving lectures.
The marriage announcement comes just after Joe made President Donald Trump a sensational new offer as he attempts to secure a pardon from the White House.
The marriage announcement comes just after Joe made President Donald Trump a sensational new offer as he attempts to secure a pardon from the White HouseÂ
During his first term, Trump told a reporter that he would ‘take a look’ at the tiger trader’s case, but nothing ever came of it
During his first term, Trump, 78, told a reporter that he would ‘take a look’ at the tiger trader’s case, but nothing ever came of it.Â
He instead went on to pardon and commute the sentences of 143 people, including rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black.
Nevertheless, Exotic publicly endorsed Trump in the 2024 election and is still trying to attract the president’s attention to his case.
In post last month on Exotic’s X account, the tiger keeper is pictured with Marquez, whom he is now referring to as his ‘husband.’
‘You could deport him at some point, but if you let me go, we’ll both go to Mexico, which will save you the cost of deporting him and allow you to take care of me,’ Exotic argued.Â
‘No matter what happens, he’s my husband, and we’ll never abandon each other. This bond is that strong.’
