FORMER reality TV star Joe Exotic has tied the knot with a fellow inmate after proving his love with a romantic gesture.
The Tiger King star, Joe Exotic, 62, whose real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage met Jorge Marquez Flores while serving time in federal prison.
SERENA DC THE EXOTIC TRUTHTiger King star Joe Exotic tied the knot with fellow inmate Jorge Marquez Flores[/caption]
AFPExotic claimed their marriage license needed approval from the warden, psychiatrist, and chaplain[/caption]
SERENA DC THE EXOTIC TRUTHHe first shared their engagement back in October, calling Jorge “so amazing” and revealing he’s from Mexico[/caption]
The wedding took place at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, where both men are locked up.
The reckless former zoo keeper was convicted in 2019 for a murder-for-hire plot against his longtime rival Carole Baskin.
Exotic is currently five years into a 21-year sentence.
The convicted criminal announced the wedding news Tuesday on social media with a photoshopped image of the couple in suits.
The two smiled in white ball caps and their formal attire in front of a superimposed picture of a floral walkway.
“Never been more proud of someone. Meet my husband Jorge Flores Maldonado,” wrote the Netflix star.
Exotic first announced their engagement back in October, and said the couple had tattooed their wedding rings on their fingers in a romantic show of commitment, he told Radar at the time.
He gushed over the 33-year-old Mexican lover and said he hoped their union would help Flores get US citizenship.
Flores, 33, was locked behind bars in 2024 for illegally reentering the US from Mexico after previously being deported, according to federal court documents seen by The U.S. Sun.
He was allegedly driving a car full of six other illegal immigrants when he was caught crossing the border.
Now, Flores is serving time on immigration charges, and Exotic fears he could be deported back to a Mexican prison.
On social media, Exotic wrote, “Now, the quest of getting married in prison and getting him asylum or we be leaving America when we both get out.”
Exotic submitted a formal application to prison officials to marry Jorge.
He claimed their marriage license needed approval from the warden, psychiatrist, and chaplain.
Exotic made it clear that while he wishes for his new-husband to stay in the US, their partnership is founded on love.
“Whether it helps his immigration status or not, we love each other enough to get married,” Exotic told Radar last year.
“He gets out in May of next year so that gives us seven months to get my appeal done and find out where I’m at. We’re hoping to be able to walk out the door close to the same time.”
In an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun Exotic sobbed and said he wanted to “die immediately behind bars” if he is separated from Flores.
Crying down the phone from his Texas jail, Exotic said, “All I pray for today is just let God end this for me.”
EXOTIC DATING HISTORY
Exotic has previously had multiple partners, and he didn’t shy away from discussing them.
Now, the quest of getting married in prison and getting him asylum or we be leaving America when we both get out”
“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,” he told Daily Mail..
“But Jorge is a very amazing young man.”
Exotic was previously married to Travis Maldonado, who died in 2017 after accidentally shooting himself.
Maldonado was 19 when he arrived at Exotic’s zoo in 2013, hoping the animal work would help with his drug addiction.
The two tied the knot alongside John Finlay in a three-way wedding shortly after Travis’ arrival.
Travis was 32 years younger than Exotic and died at age 23.
Just two months after his death, Exotic began dating Dillon Passage.
Exotic and Passage married in December 2017, but parted ways in 2020 and filed for divorce the following year.
When asked about the split in December 2022, Exotic said, “Just waiting on the final order from the judge!”
Passage, a Texas bartender, claimed that it took “four drafts” for Exotic to finally sign the paperwork.
“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 on social media.
TMZ reported that Dillon is now barred from using or profiting from Joe’s likeness and is under a non-disparagement order.
EXOTIC COURT APPEAL
Exotic and his new husband are holding out hope that an appeal will overturn the reality TV star’s conviction.
He insists he has new evidence including “video confessions under oath” and “700 phone recordings of federal agents.”
He’s also made multiple public pleas for a presidential pardon.
“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,” Exotic said.
“All I did was build a zoo and some people were very jealous. Then I was put into prison by my own country.”
Exotic rose to fame through the hit Netflix series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, which spotlighted his wild lifestyle and bitter feud with animal rights activist Baskin.
In 2019, he was convicted on 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for hire targeting Carole Baskin.
His sentence was later reduced to 21 years after a court ruled the murder counts were wrongly treated as separate.
APIn 2019, Exotic was convicted on 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for hire targeting Carole Baskin[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
