Joe Exotic: “Tiger King” star got engaged in prison

The star of the Netflix documentary “Tiger King” is also making headlines behind bars: Joe Exotic (61) got engaged during his 21-year prison sentence. Like Joseph Allen Maldonado, his real name, his chosen one is called Jorge Marquez and is also an inmate at his correctional facility.

“He’s 33 years old, so wonderful and from Mexico,” Exotic gushed about his new partner. The two already have concrete plans for the future: “Now it’s about getting married in prison and getting asylum for him, or we leave America when we’re both out,” explained the former private zoo owner.

Exotic once again confirmed the engagement and revealed further details: “We submitted our official marriage license papers from the prison yesterday and are now waiting for approval.” The couple has already set December 12th as their wedding date. However, the prison director, the psychiatric department and the prison chaplain must first give their consent.

It would be the fourth marriage for Joe Exotic. Two of his husbands have already died, and his third marriage to Dillon Passage ended in divorce in 2021. “I’ve been through a lot in my days,” Exotic summed up. “I buried two husbands, the third ran off Netflix with $2.6 million and left me here. But Jorge is a truly wonderful young man.”

The “Tiger King” star has been serving a prison sentence since 2019 for the attempted murder of his nemesis Carole Baskin and violations of animal protection laws. While Marquez is scheduled to be released in May 2025, Exotic is hoping for an early release thanks to new evidence. He points to “video confessions under oath,” “false testimony” in his trial and “700 phone records from federal agents.” He expects an answer from the appeals court by February.

Incidentally, the prisoner maintains his social media presence despite the ban: “I make 50 phone calls a day. My people tell me what’s going on and I tell them what to post,” he explained. “So almost everything that gets posted is posted by me through a proxy.”