Who is Joe Exotic? Tiger King star marries fellow inmate amid 21-year prison sentence

Joe Exotic, born Joseph Maldonado-Passage, has married fellow prison inmate Jorge Marquez, reported TMZ. The Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness star took to X on Tuesday to share the news about his nuptials. The post included a photo of the duo posing together in matching black tuxedos and white hats.

Tiger King star Joe Exotic marries fellow prison inmate Jorge Marquez

“Never been more proud of someone. Meet my husband Jorge Flores Maldonado,” Joe wrote. The 62-year-old is a former zookeeper who is serving a 21-year prison sentence for a murder-for-hire plot against animal rights activist Carole Baskin.

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Joe was sentenced in January 2020 for violating federal wildlife laws and for his role in a failed murder-for-hire plot targeting his chief rival, Baskin, who runs a rescue sanctuary for big cats in Florida, according to AP.

The news about his behind bars marriage to Jorge comes just six months after he revealed his engagement to the 33-year-old Mexican national, who is jailed for immigration-related issues, in October 2024.

“Meet Jorge Marquez he is 33. He is so amazing and is from Mexico. Now, the quest of getting married in prison and getting him asylum or we be leaving America when we both get out,” Joe wrote at the time.

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“Either way, I wish I would have met him long ago,” he added in the X post that featured a photo of him and his then-fiance. The incarcerated television personality was previously married to Dillon Passage, with whom he parted ways in 2020.

Dillon and Joe tied the knot in December 2017, just two months after the latter's previous husband, Travis Maldonado, died in a self-inflicted, accidental shooting.