Tiger King star Joe Exotic is tying the knot again. This time it will be in prison. The former Netflix star revealed he's engaged inside the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
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Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is marrying a fellow prisoner. He shared the news on social media.
"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. Either way, I wish I would have met him long ago," Exotic wrote.
"From the very day we met, we've spent every minute of every day together," he said. "And it just clicked so fast and so sincere, and it's amazing. I wished I would have met Jorge months ago or a couple of years ago, but God had a plan, I guess."
Both Exotic and Marquez met each other five months ago. Marquez entered the United States illegally and was transferred to Exotic's prison. The reality star confirmed that he applied for the two to get married.
"We filled out our application yesterday and turned it in," Exotic said. "Part of the application process was we had to write letters to the prison and explain why we wanted to get married. And then we filled out the marriage license application for the county and turned it all in. And [all] I can do is pray to God that the chaplain and the warden and the captain approve it."
Joe Exotic On Prison
Meanwhile, Exotic also said that "heterosexuals get married in here all day long. But I'm hoping that they respect our constitutional right, and we will still uphold and abide by the rules and the law."
Right now, he said he spends a lot of time with Marquez. The two have most of their meals together, and Exotic describes his lock-up as not that bad.
"We cook breakfast and lunch and dinner together," Exotic said. "Because the prison that we're in ... is not like a prison, OK? It's more like a college campus. There's no bars, and there's no doors. You have to live in dorms. And, right now, he lives in a different one than I do. And then we spend some mornings, some nights together, during the day. So, I don't think the prison will have any problem. We haven't caused any problems for the prison, so I don't see any reason why they would object to approving our application."
Exotic says that Marquez is getting out in May 2025. He's hopeful that his own appeal will get him out of prison as well.
"I should have answers on my appeal by then, actually by March," he said. "Whether or not they're going to let me go and/or if they're going to recharge me and going to take me back to trial. Since their witnesses are no good anymore, and they can't take me back to trial because they ain't got no case because everybody admitted that it was all made up. So, hopefully, with God's will or a president's will, maybe we can walk out of here together."
The two plan to get married on December 12th.
