Anna Daniels
Joe Exotic is a serial monogamist, if not polygamist, boasting of his not-exactly legal simultaneous marriages to John Finlay and Travis Maldonado. After splitting with Finlay, and Maldonado’s death, Exotic recoupled with Dillon Passage, but that’s not the entire history of the Exotic husbands who also worked at his zoo.
According to Intelligencer, in the late ’80s Exotic worked as a security guard at a Dallas gay bar, where he met a 19-year-old cowboy named Brian Rhyne. They lived together for well over a decade (and were illegally married at the bar where they met), and Rhyne was around for many of the events depicted in Tiger King. He was there when Exotic’s older brother Garold died in 1997, and when Exotic opened the G.W. Exotic Animal Memorial Park in his memory. Rhyne died in 2001, in Exotic’s arms, from HIV-related causes, and according to zoo employees, helped trigger Exotic’s descent into colorful and erratic behavior. He also started spending a lot of time at a gay bar called the Copa, where he met his next husband, J.C. Hartpence (who later ended up sentenced to life in prison for murder). After that, Exotic met Finlay, and while with him met a young Insane Clown Posse fan known only as Paul, and they all slept together in one big bed. Only after Paul departed did Exotic hook up with Travis Maldonado.
Written by: Looper
