Carole Baskin is letting all her cats and kittens know more about her sexual identity, as the Dancing With The Stars alum recently came out as bisexual.
Baskin rose to fame through the success of the Netflix quarantine hit, Tiger King. She got the villain edit and became a central figure in the docuseries, thanks to her longstanding feud with the show's star, Joe Exotic. The Big Cat Rescue owner has faced controversy throughout her life, due to the 1997 disappearance of her ex-husband, Don Lewis. During the season premiere of DWTS, Lewis' family (and attorney) paid for a commercial spot that raised awareness about his open missing person case. The ad was a clear shot at Carole Baskin, who they still believe has some knowledge about his disappearance. Baskin went on to marry Howard Baskin in 2004.
Since gaining notoriety, Baskin has used her platform to promote her tiger reserve. However, she recently enlarged her audience by sharing her alignment with the LGBTQ community. In a new interview with PinkNews, Baskin revealed that she identifies as bisexual. "But it was during the '80s that I discovered that through dealing with the LGBT+ community that I [realized] I had just as equal feelings for women as I did for men," she told the outlet. "I have always considered myself to be bisexual. Even though I've never had a wife, I could just as easily have a wife as a husband."
The news might come as a surprise to many who assumed the opposite about the cat lover. However, according to Baskin, she's known this for a long time. Tiger King fans are well aware of Joe Exotic's openness about his gay identity. The docuseries followed his relationships with his two husbands, Dillon Passage and Travis Maldonado. When the outlet asked Baskin about Exotic's status within the queer community, the former DWTS cast member shared her undying hatred for the incarcerated star. "He's an embarrassment to the human community," she said. "It's not a matter of what your sexuality is, this man is just a deviant in the way that he treats human life and animal life."
Since being eliminated from DWTS last month, Baskin has teased her desire to get her own Carole Baskin reality show. Following her exit, she shared her pitch for another reality show, aimed at bringing awareness to animal cruelty. “[It] will be going after the animal abusers," she said. "Bringing them to justice and then hopefully getting the animals into accredited sanctuaries.”
Source: PinkNews