The Netflix true-crime series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness covers the unusual
life of Joe Exotic, former owner of a controversial zoo in Oklahoma.
In addition to Joe's legal woes, he's also known for marrying five men and dabbling in
polygamy.
Here's the untold truth of those husbands.
In the early '80s, Joe Exotic real name Joe Schreibvogel was working at a gay bar in Texas
called the Round-up Saloon as a security guard when he met Brian Rhyne, a, quote, "slender,
sassy 19-year-old," according to New York Magazine.
They quickly moved in together, purchasing a trailer in Arlington, Texas, where they
would reportedly snort "pink-tinged meth and go out to bars."
The guys eventually got hitched at the Round-up Saloon, even though gay marriage wasn't legal
at the time.
During their marriage, Joe got a job at a pet store called Pet Safari, which he later
owned with his brother, Garold.
Then in 1997, everything changed when Garold was killed in a highway accident.
Garold's family sued the trucking company that was involved in the collision, and Joe
managed to convince his parents to put the settlement money toward a refuge for exotic
animals.
Joe purchased a ranch in Wynnewood, Oklahoma and named it the Garold Wayne Exotic Animal
Memorial Park or the G.W.
Zoo, for short.
Joe and Rhyne's park quickly filled up with exotic animals, with some of the young creatures
living in their home.
Tragically, Rhyne died of complications from HIV in 2001, per New York Magazine.
Robert Moor writes:
"Joe was loading him into a pickup to take him home to die peacefully, when he breathed
his last breath.
Joe screamed loud enough to make your ears ring."
After Brian Rhyne's death, something supposedly changed in Joe Exotic and what he looked for
in a man, per New York Magazine.
Joe began spending time at a gay bar called Copa, where he was rumored to have brought
in a leashed tiger one Saturday night.
It seemed like Joe's attitude towards relationships mirrored his interest in obtaining wild cats:
the more unpredictable the relationship, the more worthy the pursuit.
He reportedly gravitated toward "very young and very rough" men who claimed to be heterosexual.
"John's a muscled-up, bully kind of guy.
He doesn't come off to me as being gay, but, you know, he lives with Joe."
Joe married a man in his twenties from Oklahoma named Jeffrey Charles "J.C." Hartpence, although
the ceremony wasn't legal.
Joe's new paramour was allegedly addicted to drugs and alcohol, and he once held a gun
to the zookeeper's head during a fight, according to Texas Monthly.
Hartpence is now serving life in prison for murder, The Wichita Eagle reported.
After his relationship with Hartpence, Joe met a young man fresh out of high school named
John Finlay who was, according to New York Magazine, quote, "a cute little redneck boy
who hid his teeth when he smiled."
Joe allegedly asked Finlay to take steroids, and he also paid for him to get a tattoo on
his pelvis which read: "PRIVATELY OWNED BY JOE EXOTIC."
The relationship eventually turned volatile, and during a fight, Finlay allegedly threw
Joe into a wall with such force that he required hospitalization.
While still dating John Finlay, Joe Exotic met a young man named Paul who, according
to New York Magazine, asked to withhold his last name.
Paul was quiet and shy and, like John Finlay and J.C. Hartpence, didn't identify as gay.
Joe reportedly slept between the two men in a shared bed.
When Paul left, Joe met another young man named Travis Maldonado, who was from California.
Maldonado wound up working at Joe's zoo, thinking it would give him a "chance to clean up" his
life, per the Daily Beast.
Joe later married Maldonado and Finlay in an unofficial three-way ceremony.
However, the polygamous union disintegrated.
Finlay claimed Joe became increasingly controlling.
In August 2014, Finlay attacked Joe in the parking lot behind the zoo and was charged
with assault and battery, per Texas Monthly.
Finlay ultimately left Joe and Maldonado, marrying a woman named Amber who also worked
at the zoo, and they have a child together.
According to the Daily Beast, Joe Exotic is a self-described, quote, "gay, gun-toting
cowboy with a mullet," so that begs the question: Just how did he wind up with two husbands
at the same time, mind you who may have been straight?
"All through school, I was dating girls.
From the time - kindergarten 'til I graduated, I had girlfriends.
Every time."
Former zoo manager John Reinke claims darker forces were at play in the union of Joe, Travis
Maldonado, and John Finley.
During a Tiger King interview, he explained:
"If they wanted it, they got it.
All they had to do was ask.
I think that's how he kept 'em close to him."
Ex-husband John Finlay echoed these same sentiments, admitting:
"He was showering me with gifts and stuff, uhh…
He bought me a truck.
He actually bought me, like, four or five different trucks."
After John Finlay left Joe Exotic, Travis Maldonado died at age 23 in a tragic accident.
The 2017 incident occurred in the office of the zoo's gift shop, where Maldonado was supposedly
trying to prove something he saw on the internet about his pistol.
Maldonado believed the gun wouldn't fire without its magazine, so he put the weapon to his
head after removing the magazine to demonstrate his theory but there was still a bullet in
the pistol's chamber.
Maldonado apparently pulled the trigger and accidentally shot himself dead.
Next, well…
"You can believe what you wanna believe about whether or not things are sent to you or people
are sent to you or whatever, but we went to dinner and he never went home."
Just two months after Maldonado's death, Joe married a 19-year-old man he met online named
Dillon Passage.
Joe then left the zoo and moved to Gulf Breeze, Florida with Passage, where they lived together
until Joe was arrested in 2018 for allegedly conspiring to kill Carole Baskin, the founder
and CEO of Big Cat Rescue, an organization that has tried to shutter Joe's business for
years.
Joe was sentenced to 22 years behind bars in January 2020.
"I'm in a cage.
Do you know why animals die in cages?
Their soul dies."
Joe Exotic's first husband, Brian Rhyne, died of complications from HIV, and his second
husband, J.C. Hartpence, is serving life in prison for murder, according to The Wichita
Eagle.
But there is still unfinished business with Joe's other husbands.
Members of Travis Maldonado's family are unconvinced that his death was an accident and, according
to the Daily Beast, they want the ashes Joe sent them tested.
John Finlay is reportedly working as a welder in Davis, Oklahoma.
He has a girlfriend and a daughter and seems to be doing well.
Finlay told the Daily Beast:
"Whether he knows it or not, he did mentally abuse me and controlled me.
But I've actually got it figured out now."
On a related note, he's also fixed his teeth and those are some pretty chompers!
"The teeth are looking sharp."
"They're feeling pretty good too."
"Look at you.
You went from a couple of teeth missing to Hugh Jackman overnight."
As for Joe's most recent husband, Dillon Passage, they are still technically married at this
time, but Passage has reportedly tried to maintain a low profile as Tiger King's visibility
soars.
Slate said the, quote, "addictive, ethically questionable, and spectacular" series is,
quote, "the only show crazier than the world outside right now," so we probably haven't
heard the last from Joe and the men in his life.
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