Netflix’s Tiger King documents the strange life of Joe Exotic, which included his multiple husbands. The man at the center of Tiger King, the latest true-crime documentary series to drop on Netflix, defies stereotyping, as he became involved with exotic animals, attempted murder, and more.
Joseph Schreibvogel-Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic, is a gun-toting tiger breeder, an openly gay man with multiple partners living in Oklahoma, a showman with his own internet TV series who decided to run for both President and state Governor, and a convicted criminal currently serving a 22-year sentence for animal abuse and murder-for-hire. Everything about Joe Exotic is fascinating and unexpected, but it's his love life that has raised many an eyebrow.
Joe Exotic had many partners, often at the same time, and Tiger King barely scratches the surface of his private life. Here’s what we know about Joe Exotic’s husbands and where they are today.
Travis Maldonado Died by Accidental Suicide
Joe met Travis Maldonado in 2013 when the young man was only 19 years old. He had started working at the zoo at the suggestion of one of Joe's employees, and even though he insisted to Joe that he was straight, the two began a relationship. A month later, Maldonado and John Finlay married Joe in a three-way ceremony. Travis’ drug issues were extensively noted, including his use of methamphetamine and marijuana. One individual in the documentary insists that Travis only stayed with Joe because he provided ready access to drugs. As documented in the series, Travis Maldonado met a tragic end when he shot himself in front of an employee of the zoo in its gift shop office. According to witnesses, Travis had removed the magazine from the pistol to show that it would not fire, but there was still one bullet in the chamber. Joe built a memorial to Travis on the grounds of the zoo.
What Happened to Dillon Passage?
Two months after Travis's death, Joe married another young man named Dillon Passage. The then-22-year-old from Austin, Texas, met Joe through a chatroom. Following the fallout with Jeff Lowe over Joe's embezzlement of governor campaign funds, he and Passage moved to Gulf Breeze, Florida. The pair posted many pictures of their trip on Instagram but tagged their locations as places other than Florida, most notably Belize. Dillon is still married to Joe and has an active Instagram presence. When asked in one image if he and Joe had split because he didn't seem to be wearing a wedding ring, Dillon noted that it was on his other hand, out of shot.
Where is John Finlay Now?
Joe Exotic met John Finlay in the summer 2003 when he hired the then-19-year-old man to work at the zoo. They began a relationship a month later, even though Joe was already seeing someone else at the time. After the three-way wedding, things quickly soured between Joe and Finlay, in large part due to Joe's increasing desire for fame and vendetta against Carole Baskin. It didn't help that Finlay insisted that he was always straight, even when with Joe. The pair had a messy breakup, and in August 2014, Finlay attacked Joe, resulting in his arrest for assault and battery. Finlay told Texas Monthly that Joe had been obsessive and controlling in their marriage and that Joe had "ruined his life." He is now married to a woman named Stormey. Finlay has also taken to Facebook to criticize Tiger King for being “all about the ratings [for them], not the people they hurt.”
What About Joe’s Other Partners?
Joe Exotic’s other partners aren’t featured as much in Tiger King. A profile in New York Magazine describes Joe's type as being "very young and very rough, and they often professed to be heterosexual [...] a volatile combination." Prior to John Finlay, Joe was in a relationship with a man named Brian Rhyne, who he met while working as a security guard at a gay cowboy-themed bar named the Round-up Saloon. They later married at this bar, but it was legally binding. It was with Brian and his brother, Garold, that Joe bought a pet store and began his life working with wild and exotic animals. In 2001, Brian died of complications related to the HIV virus.
After Rhyne’s death, Joe met J.C. Hartpence. Hartpence's experience as an events producer helped Joe to develop a traveling animal and magic show, which is briefly shown in the documentary. Their relationship was brief and deeply troubled, with Hartpence holding a gun to Joe's head at one point. Texas Monthly notes that this argument happened after Hartpence found a threatening image of a tiger glaring at a slab of meat with the words "J.C.'s remains" written across it, and as Post-It note from Joe which read, "If you don’t get your sh*t together, this is gonna be your reality." In 2015, Hartpence pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He is now serving a life sentence in prison.