The Tiger Kingdom is expanding.
“Tiger King” star Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, announced on April 21 that he wed fellow prison inmate Jorge Marquez.
“Never been more proud of someone. Meet my husband Jorge Flores Maldonado,” Maldonado wrote in a post on X, alongside a digitally altered photo of the pair, edited to show them in tuxedos and matching white hats underneath a floral arch.
USA TODAY has reached out to Maldonado’s rep for comment.
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The nuptials are not a surprise, following an announcement from Maldonado, 62, in October that he planned to wed Marquez, 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,” Maldonado wrote in a post on X at the time. “Either way, I wish I would have met him long ago.”
In a post to Instagram on April 18, Maldonado called Marquez “my life,” and made a plea to President Donald Trump to release him from prison.
“He has gotten me through so much fighting cancer under these conditions. All I pray to God for is Trump wull (sic) allow me to enjoy a little life outside with him before it’s too late,” Maldonado wrote alongside a photo of the couple. “I love you, Jorge, you are my life.”
Maldonado, who rose to cult fame during the early months of the pandemic through the Netflix reality series “Tiger King,” is serving a 21-year prison sentence following a conviction in 2019 for hiring hitmen to kill his chief critic, Carole Baskin, and of crimes involving his animals. He maintains he is innocent and was set up.
Carole Baskin, an animal rights activist and Maldonado’s rival, also starred in the show.
A former zookeeper in Oklahoma, this is not Maldonado’s first marriage. He was wed from 2015 to 2017 to Travis Maldonado, who died from accidentally shooting himself, and to Dillon Passage from 2017 to 2021.
Contributing: Nolan Clay, Oklahoman
