‘Meet My Husband’: Tiger King’s Joe Exotic Marries Fellow Prison Inmate Jorge Marquez
This marks the sixth time the Netflix star has tied the knot with someone else
Joe Exotic—a.k.a. “Tiger King”—is married! On Monday, April 21, the Netflix star and zoo owner went to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share that he and Jorge Marquez had said “I Do” after meeting in prison. This marks the sixth time Exotic has been married throughout his adult life. Below, we have found out everything you need to know about the couple, including when they got engaged and what Exotic has to say about his new beau. Read on for more.
What to know about Joe Exotic and Jorge Marquez
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, and Marquez met while incarcerated in a Fort Worth, Texas, prison. Despite their 29-year age difference, they got engaged in October 2024. It is unclear how long they have known each other.
“He is so amazing and is from Mexico,” Exotic, age 62, wrote on X in October 2024. “Now, the quest of getting married in prison and getting him asylum or we be leaving America when we both get out. Either way, I wish I would have met him long ago.”
The Tiger King star is currently serving a 21-year sentence after being convicted of hiring someone to kill Carol Baskin, an animal rights activist, in 2019. It is unclear what Marquez, age 33, is serving time for.
“Never been more proud of someone,” Exotic said in the announcement. “Meet my husband, Jorge Flores Maldonado.”
He also shared on Instagram five days prior that Marquez “has gotten me through so much fighting cancer under these conditions.”
“All I pray to God for is Trump will allow me to enjoy a little life outside with him before it’s too late. I love you, Jorge, you are my life.”
It is unclear how exactly Exotic is able to have social media while incarcerated.
A look at Joe Exotic’s previous loves
Before tying the knot with Marquez, Exotic was married five other times to five different men.
The first was to Brian Rhyne, whom he met in a bar in Dallas, Texas. They got married in 1968 but their relationship tragically ended in 2001 after Rhyne died from Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Following that, Exotic married J.C. Hartpence in 2002, but they split up after just a year due to issues at the zoo, as well as Hartpence’s violent outbursts that even ended in him pointing a gun at Exotic’s head. Hartpence is currently in prison for a murder he committed after the divorce.
Exotic’s third and fourth marriages happened at the same time. Back in 2014, he married John Finlay and Travis Maldonado and entered into a polyamorous relationship with both of them. This lasted for a few years and ended after a falling out with Finlay. Exotic and Maldonado did stay together for a little while after that, but in October 2017, Maldonado accidentally shot himself and died. Exotic still legally carries his last name.
The reality star’s fifth marriage was to Dillon Passage, whom he tied the knot with two months after Maldonado’s death
“I never figured I’d marry Joe Exotic,” Passage told People in April 2020. “I had no idea who he was. I never Googled him or anything.”
The two then got divorced in March 2021, with Passage writing in a now-deleted Instagram post, “This wasn’t an easy decision to make, but Joe and I both understand that this situation isn’t fair to either of us. It’s something that neither of us were expecting, but we are going to take it day by day. We are on good terms still, and I hope it can stay that way.”
That was Exotic’s last relationship before Marquez. Aside from his tigers, he has no children.
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