Joe Exotic: Netflix's Tiger King star announces marriage to fellow inmate Jorge Marquez while serving 21-year prison sentence

The 62-year-old, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, announced the news on Monday, April 21. A day later, he shared a photo of himself and his new husband on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “Never been more proud of someone. Meet my husband, Jorge Flores Maldonado.”

Maldonado-Passage revealed in October 2024 that he was engaged to Marquez, describing him as a 33-year-old from Mexico. “He is so amazing and is from Mexico,” he posted at the time. “Now, the quest of getting married in prison and getting him asylum or we (will) be leaving America when we both get out. Either way, I wish I would have met him long ago.”

The couple reportedly met while incarcerated, and the relationship developed despite Maldonado-Passage’s ongoing legal and health battles. In a recent Instagram post, he expressed his love for Marquez and shared his hopes for release: “He has gotten me through so much fighting cancer under these conditions. All I pray to God for is Trump (to) allow me to enjoy a little life outside with him before it's too late. I love you Jorge you are my life. @realdonaldtrump.”

Maldonado-Passage rose to fa,e in 2020 as the eccentric, gun-toting zookeeper featured in Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. The series chronicled his years operating an exotic animal park in Oklahoma and his bitter rivalry with animal rights activist Carole Baskin.

In 2019, he was convicted of a murder-for-hire plot to kill Baskin, along with multiple wildlife-related charges. He was originally sentenced to 22 years, which was reduced to 21 years in January 2022 after a federal appeals court ruled that his two counts of attempted murder-for-hire should have been treated as one during sentencing.

This marks Maldonado-Passage’s third marriage. He was previously married to Travis Maldonado from 2015 until Travis’s accidental death in 2017, followed by his marriage to Dillon Passage later that year. That relationship ended in separation in 2021.

Who is Joe Exotic and why is he in prison?

Joe Exotic, is a former zookeeper, reality TV personality, and convicted felon who rose to international fame following the release of Netflix’s 2020 true crime documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. The series was released during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting chaotic portrayal of the exotic animal industry in the US, with Joe Exotic at its centre.

Joe Exotic was born Joseph Allen Schreibvogel in 1963 in Garden City, Kansas. He later legally changed his surname to Maldonado-Passage after a series of personal and professional developments, including marriages and rebranding efforts related to his zoo.

Before his rise to viral notoriety, Joe Exotic operated the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, a private zoo he opened in the late 1990s. The zoo was home to hundreds of big cats and exotic animals, and it became notorious for offering close-up encounters and controversial breeding practices.

Joe Exotic’s fame came not just from his zoo, but from his flamboyant persona, eccentric music videos, political ambitions (he ran for both President in 2016 and Governor of Oklahoma in 2018), and an ongoing feud with animal rights activist Carole Baskin, founder of Big Cat Rescue in Florida.