Joe Exotic is a married man.
The “Tiger King” star announced his marriage to husband Jorge Flores Maldonado, whom he met while serving time for a murder-for-hire plot that landed him behind bars in 2020.
“Never been more proud of someone,” Exotic shared Monday on X. “Meet my husband Jorge Flores Maldonado.”
‘TIGER KING’ JOE EXOTIC PLANS TO MARRY FELLOW INMATE IN PRISON, HOPES THEY ‘CAN WALK OUT’ TOGETHER
Joe Exotic, whose legal name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, and Jorge met while incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Jorge had been transferred from the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas, after entering the United States illegally.
Exotic confirmed to Fox News Digital in November that he and Jorge had filed the paperwork for marriage. At the time, the former zookeeper was worried about the couple’s chances for the chaplain, warden and the captain to approve their paperwork.
“Heterosexuals get married in here all day long,” he previously told Fox News Digital. “But I’m hoping that they respect our constitutional right, and we will still uphold and abide by the rules and the law.”
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Exotic revealed he had become engaged to Jorge in a post shared to X in October.
“Meet Jorge Marquez he is 33. He is so amazing and is from Mexico,” the reality TV star wrote at the time. “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 62-year-old also shared details of his romance with Jorge in an interview with Fox News Digital from prison last year.
“From the very day we met, we’ve spent every minute of every day together,” he said. “And it just clicked so fast and so sincere, and it’s amazing.
“I wished I would have met Jorge months ago or a couple of years ago, but God had a plan, I guess.”
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Exotic is serving time for multiple offenses, including a murder-for-hire plot targeting animal activist, and the zookeeper’s known nemesis, Carole Baskin. He was also found guilty of multiple violations of the Endangered Species Act after killing five tigers, plus falsifying wildlife records.
The zookeeper founded and owned the Garold Wayne Exotic Animal Memorial Park in Wynnewood, Oklahomq.
Exotic ran the zoo from 1999 until 2018. His job at the zoo was documented in Netflix’s “The Tiger King.”
He is currently serving a 21-year sentence, although some changes have been made since his conviction in 2020.
