Entertainment
‘Tiger King’ subject Joe Exotic’s husband Dillon Passage finally speaks out about their relationship – EW.com
Tiger King’s Joe Exotic is still a married man, even though he’s currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for his role in the murder-for-hire plot against nemesis Carole Baskin. The Netflix documentary introduces Exotic’s fourth husband Dillon Passage and covers their eventual separation due to Exotic’s conviction. It was uncertain by the documentary’s end whether…
Tiger King‘s Joe Exotic is still a married man, even though he’s currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for his role in the murder-for-hire plot against nemesis Carole Baskin.
The Netflix documentary introduces Exotic’s fourth husband Dillon Passage and covers their eventual separation due to Exotic’s conviction. It was uncertain by the documentary’s end whether the pair, who tied the knot in December 2017, were still married today, but Passage cleared things up during a call to Sirius XM ‘s Andy Cohen Live.
“We are,” the 24-year-old tells Andy Cohen when asked if he and Exotic are still married.
He also shared details on how he and Exotic met, as well as news that his husband is currently in isolation due to COVID-19.
“I met him a few months after [Exotic’s third husband] Travis [Maldonado] passed away,” Passage said. “So we first started chatting on Grindr in Oklahoma.”
“The first time we actually met on [Tiger King], it was like it was our first date, but we had actually met the night before,” he continued. “Me and my cousin went down to the safari bar, which was a little restaurant bar he had about half a mile away from the zoo, and he sang to me — he did karaoke that night.”
“He was just super sweet to me and he came off as genuine and a good, down to earth guy. He’s very charismatic,” Passage said.
He said the pair got married about two weeks after meeting. Passage admitted he was struggling with drug addiction issues when he met the polyamorous Exotic. Exotic was previously in a relationship and symbolic group marriage with Maldonado (who died in October 2017) and John Finlay, who both also admitted to having addiction issues in the documentary.
Passage said he remains faithful, and shared an update about how his husband is coping with the coronavirus pandemic in prison.
“We speak three to five times every day,” Passage revealed. “But since he’s been moved to this new facility, they’re putting him in COVID-19 isolation because of the previous jail that he was in there were cases. So I have yet to speak to him since he’s been moved.”
Exotic was recently transferred from Oklahoma to FMC Fort Worth in Texas, EW has confirmed.
Some subjects from the documentary have slammed the final product including Baskin who called it it “salacious and sensational,” but Passage has a different opinion.
“The producers, they put the story together very, very well, I think,” he said. “They stayed true to the entire storyline. And I even learned a lot of things I didn’t know about Carole and Joe’s feud, cuz I try to stay out of his business. It wasn’t my place, you know, I wasn’t necessarily involved.”
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