The ‘Tiger King’ star ended things with his fiancé so he could propose to his 33-year-old jailhouse lover.
Joe Exotic can now call a new man his fiancé after proposing while behind bars.
RadarOnline.com can exclusively revealed the Tiger King star has called his previous engagement off and now has someone new in his life.
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In exclusive clips obtained by RadarOnline.com, the former reality star born Joseph Maldonado-Passage, confirmed his four-year engagement is no more as he has proposed to a 33-year-old inmate named Jorge Marquez.
Maldonado-Passage wrote on X: “He is so amazing and is from Mexico.
“Now, the quest of getting married in prison and getting him asylum or we be leaving America when we both get out.”
The 61-year-old added: “Either way, I wish I would have met him long ago.”
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Maldonado-Passage proposed to fellow Joseph Marquez-Flores, who is expected to be released from prison in 2025.
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In his jailhouse interview with RadarOnline.com, Maldonado-Passage said: “Whether it helps his immigration status or not, we love each other enough to get married. We even got tattooed matching wedding bands already on.”
The Netflix star explained: “What it would do is, it would assure him, and it would show the court, that he has a little bit of financial stability to stay in America.”
“It’s gonna look better for his asylum case to be married. We’re just hoping that the prison will allow us to get married and stay in the same prison,” Maldonado-Passage added.
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Maldonado-Passage also revealed the couple has to “wait for the prison to approve everything”, and added, “I really think they will.”
He said: “I have faith. We don’t cause any trouble here. We don’t do any drugs. We respect the rules of the prison. I truly believe they will approve it.
“He gets out in May of next year so that gives us seven months to get my appeal done and find out where I’m at. We’re hoping to be able to walk out the door close to the same time.”
Maldonado-Passage also shared if he can’t get any help from the government to “keep him here… I guess I’m going to Mexico.”
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The ‘Tiger King’ star revealed he’s hoping the marriage will ‘look better for [his fiancé’s] asylum case.
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This isn’t Maldonado-Passage’s first shot at love as he was previously engaged for “four years” before ending things.
He told RadarOnline.com the engagement didn’t exactly live up to his expectations: “Out of that four years I got one letter. Never a birthday card, never a Christmas card. He never came to see me. He’s only four hours away. And it was always money, money, money for this, money for that.
“So, you know, I woke up and realized that this is honestly not in it for the both of us. It’s just in it for whatever he could get out of it.”
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Marquez-Flores is scheduled to be released from prison in 2025.
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Maldonado-Passage then shared the email he wrote to his now-former fiancé: “I said, ‘I’ve been for seven months since you got your warrants cleared up and you got your insurance and your driver’s license back and I’ve been paying your insurance for seven months, and you can’t care enough about me to drive for four hours to come see me? … Shows how important I am.
“‘Then you say if you come, you wouldn’t even want to kiss. So tell me, has this been a game this whole time?’ And he says, ‘I don’t care, I didn’t do anything wrong, so whatever.’ That’s his answer.”
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Maldonado-Passage said he’s hoping the couple is released ‘close to the same time’.
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Maldonado-Passage was first married to Travis Maldonado, who accidentally shot himself and died. Two months later he tied the knot with Dillon Passage, however, they parted ways in 2021 after three years of marriage.
Passage said at the time: “We are on good terms still and I hope it can stay that way. I will continue to have Joe in my life and do my best to support him while he undergoes further legal battles to better his situation.”
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Maldonado-Passage is best known for his ‘Tiger King’ series on Netflix.
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