Netflix's Tiger King didn't just introduce the world to Joe Exotic, the notorious former
animal park owner who's currently serving time for a murder-for-hire conviction.
Viewers also met Exotic's husbands.
The now-viral star, who is openly gay, has tied the knot multiple times over the years.
However, at the time the bulk of the docu-series was filmed, he was in a relationship with
John Finlay and Travis Maldonado.
Both men met their eventual shared spouse when they were fairly young, and the three
spent years together in a polygamous marriage.
Due to wild working conditions, alleged drug use, and the addition of many tattoos, both
Finlay and Maldonado experienced changes when it came to their appearances, especially when
you consider what they looked like when they first met Exotic compared to after they tied
the knot with the now-infamous docu-series figure.
"Three…two…one.
John's a strong, silent type.
A man of few words.
But what a hunk!"
John Finlay met Joe Exotic in 2003 when the then-19-year-old was looking for work after
graduating high school and answered a Craigslist ad.
He wanted to be a carpenter at the time, but, according to The Daily Beast, quote, "jobs
were scarce, and he didn't hesitate when, one day after applying, Joe hired him."
Finlay, who had a lot more hair and not nearly as many tattoos when he started working for
Exotic, was living with a girlfriend initially, but eventually moved to the park where he
began a relationship with his boss.
During their time together, Finlay claims that Exotic introduced him to meth, which
may or may not have caused him to lose many of his teeth.
Additionally, the two lifted weights together to bulk up while Finlay got dozens of tattoos,
including at least three dedicated to Exotic.
While Finlay went through noticeable physical changes during his relationship with Exotic,
he's also gone through another more recent transformation.
"First of all, the teeth are looking sharp."
"They're feeling pretty good too."
Sadly, the same thing can't be said of Exotic's other husband, Travis Maldonado.
We'll get to that in a minute.
"The day Travis came to the park, he looked like just a little, innocent person."
Travis Maldonado was once, according to The Daily Beast, quote, "a handsome, six-foot-four-inch
tall 20-year-old from Southern California."
However, after leaving high school at 18, he became bored and started dabbling in drugs.
In order to help him find a stable path, his father, Danny, gave him a thousand dollars
to make his way to Joe Exotic's animal park in Oklahoma to find work.
Sherry Peck, the girlfriend of Maldonado's father, told The Daily Beast:
"He thought he was having the chance of a lifetime.
He didn't know he was walking into hell."
In October 2013, not even a month after Maldonado arrived at his new home, Exotic threw a wedding
ceremony for himself; his husband, John Finlay; and Maldonado, who, quote, "seemed happy"
at the time.
Spending his days roaming the park while passing time by shooting the ground with a variety
of guns and doing drugs, Maldonado's appearance didn't change very much from what he looked
like before he married Exotic compared to afterward.
That was partly due to the fact that, after just a few years of living at the animal park,
Maldonado was killed at the age of 23 when he accidentally shot himself with a pistol,
another sad aspect of the Tiger King tale.
"I asked him everyday, I said, 'Why me?'
And he said, 'Because God put me here to make you smile, and that's my job."
Although Joe Exotic was originally married to John Finlay and Travis Maldonado in Tiger
King, he went on to marry Dillon Passage in 2017 following Maldonado's death.
After meeting on the Grindr dating app when Passage was around 21 years old and struggling
with drugs, the pair tied the knot just two weeks later, despite the fact that there was
a significant age gap between the duo, 33 years to be exact.
As viewers of the docu-series saw, Passage was the same kind of fresh-faced young man
that Exotic had previously married.
The two are still together these days, even sticking it out as Exotic serves a 22-year
sentence.
"I've never been more proud of being married to anyone as I am of you.
Let's hope...Let's hope this all works out in Oklahoma.
Just never forget I love you."
However, Passage is doing his best to keep the world updated on the status of their relationship
by doing interviews with the likes of Andy Cohen and Variety.
He's even scored himself a manager, so we might be seeing even more of Exotic's husband
in the future, with a backwards baseball cap that seems to be his signature look.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite celebs are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.