INFAMOUS Tiger King star Joe Exotic has broken down in tears during an emotional phone call pleading for Donald Trump to help him stop his husband from being deported – or just be allowed to pass away.
Exotic sobbed during an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun, claiming he wants to “die immediately behind bars” if he is separated from Mexican inmate Jorge Marquez.
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Crying down the phone from his Texas jail, Exotic admitted: “All I pray for today is just let God end this for me.”
The reckless former zoo keeper, who shot to fame on Netflix’s Tiger King series five years ago this March, is unsure how he will survive without his “rock” caring for him as he battles many health issues, including cancer.
In a desperate move, Exotic wants POTUS to pardon him or Marquez for them to be together, or offer to move him from the Fort Worth Medical Center to a Mexican jail to be closer to his fourth husband.
The reality star has written to the President Of Mexico begging for an international jail transfer to be closer to Marquez after ICE agents remove him from the US.
Exotic’s heartbreak comes amid a secret TV comeback with a show called The Exotic Truth.
He plans to reinvigorate his TV career through a new documentary, overseen by Emmy-winning documentarian Serena DC – famous for her interview with an “extra-terrestrial” and films about the three-fingered “Alien mummies” found in Peru – where he’ll talk about his incarcerated life, freedom efforts, and his ongoing fight with nemesis Carole Baskin.
In the emotional interview, he discussed his heartbreak and ongoing perilous health problems, including cancer and expressed hope Serena’s show can help change his life.
The former local town cop, serving a 22-year sentence in prison for attempting to hire a hitman to kill rival and animal rights campaigner Baskin in January 2020, was dealt the bombshell news his husband Marquez was due to be deported on Monday.
The deportation was planned for the same night, but then paperwork issues pushed Marquez’s actual US exit to May.
Distraught Exotic admitted: “They’re in the process of deporting my husband and he doesn’t have a drug case or a gun case.
“He was in America illegally and he was riding around with two of his friends. So they charged him all with trafficking each other. They’re deporting them back to Mexico.”
Exotic sobbed as he spoke about being apart from his “rock behind bars” and how it would leave him a “wreck.”
He said: “It’s going to be hard and depressing because I am one of the kind of people that is devoted and whether he’s here or Mexico, he’s still my husband and I’m not going to cheat on him or find someone else to fill that void. So life is going to suck.
‘PRAYED MY HEART WOULD STOP’
“This is to God’s truth. Before I met him, I prayed every day that my heart would stop.
“That is all I pray for today is just let God end this for me.”
He added: “Keep in mind, everybody out in the world when you’re sick and you have something as devastating as cancer is, you have your family, you have your own house, you have your whole support system out there.
“When you’re in this system and you have no family, no nothing.
But you should see, I live worse than any animal I ever had in my zoo and I’m in America.
Joe Exotic
“He is all I have had. And he has been beside me and supported me.
“And the days that I’ve been sick, he’s been the one holding my head when I am sick and puking. My parents have died. I have nobody out there.
“I love my husband and I would just like to be able to go spend my life with him.”
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Exotic wants Federal Authorities to allow him to move to a Mexican prison near where Marquez settles down after his deportation.
“Once he gets to Mexico, he’s out,” he said.
“I have pled to Claudia (Sheinbaum), the President of Mexico, even to make that one call for Jorge to President Trump to just commute my sentence if nothing else to time served, if they don’t want to lose his conviction so I can relocate to Mexico if he doesn’t want my husband in America.
“I love my husband and I would just like to be able to go spend my life with him.
Joe Exotic
Stunned Exotic claims ICE “fast tracked” the exit, but then were held up with complicated legal documentation issues.
Exotic felt that the March 3 plan was a personal attack: “I don’t know if they did it on purpose or if it just is a fluke accident, they moved it up to today, which is two days before my birthday. “
‘POOR AMERICAN’
“If I had $5 million, I’d give President Trump five million bucks,” he added, referencing a plan from the White House to introduce new multi-million dollar “gold cards” that wealthy immigrants can purchase to gain entry into the US to work.
“Unfortunately, I’m a poor American. That just worked my whole life for the American dream that they took away from me.
“I don’t care if I have to sign a contract with Trump. Hey, the first five million I make when I’m out, they’re his for a gold card just to put an end to this.”
“People think I killed somebody, but everybody has got it confused.
Joe Exotic
This new development will feature in Serena’s show along with many other unheard aspects of Exotic’s colorful life.
“No-one knows my real story and the truth behind Tiger King – and it is time to tell it. Serena is the first one to sit down with me in seven years,” he said.
“I would just say honestly, I have never done anything wrong to deserve being here. I made it 55 years without even a speeding ticket before this.
‘KIDNAPPED BY THE GOVERNMENT’
“I’ve devoted my entire life to helping sick kids and homeless people and raising money for different charities. And I could serve the world a whole lot better out there than I can in here watching people do drugs and shoot up and drink all day.”
Exotic continues to point his finger at Baskin, who campaigned to close his zoos and animal shows.
Exotic, 62, added: “People think I killed somebody, but everybody has got it confused.
“I am in here for murder for hire and twenty animal related charges.
“I consider myself a political prisoner, because they wanted to pass the Big Cat Safety Act and put me in prison. I was convicted on here-say and I’ve been kidnapped by the government.”
HEALTH BATTLES
Exotic, who suffers from auto immune deficiency disorder, has had a tumultuous existence behind bars.
Amid the Covid pandemic he found himself repeatedly in prison hospital as he dealt with non-stop vomiting, constant flu and stress.
The long haired reality star claimed that he was days from dying after “aggressive” prostate cancer before having potentially harmful colon polyps removed. He has battled advanced prostate cancer and fears lung issues too.
Adding to his suffering, Joe has contracted scabies amid a prison outbreak, which he says is a direct result of unsanitary conditions, including infestations of rats.
“I would love to be able to show you pictures of how I live in here, but I would never get out of solid star confinement if they were ever exposed,” he said.
“But you should see, I live worse than any animal I ever had in my zoo and I’m in America.”
Federal authorities only say Exotic has spent time in and out of quarantine and missed important blood transfusions.
FIVE-TIME DIVORCEE
Incredibly frailty has not stopped the “five time divorcee” chasing love from behind bars – and funding his romantic interests.
He split with Dillon Passage, seen on TV escaping with him as he ran from authorities on Tiger King, within two years of being jailed.
Within weeks fellow inmate John Graham became his fiancé with more fan donations urging for a public marriage ceremony,
However in 2022, Graham, who’d served 10 years, was released and immediately dumped the reality star.
That blow did not deter the “hopeless romantic” Exotic.
FINDING LOVE AGAIN
After running a social media competition Bachelor King, through friends on the outside, he picked part-time actor and model Seth Posey as his new boyfriend.
They soon got engaged and he even changed his will to leave Posey his fortune.
Exotic boasted that he bought Posey a car, free pizzas, Mexican food and regular flowers and made plans to rent an apartment in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
However by September 2023 that dream fell apart when Exotic dumped him by letters he needed “someone more supportive to get home.”
WEDDING BELLS
Within weeks Exotic fell for Marquez, 33, who he married in a Zoom ceremony behind bars, which will feature in Serena’s show.
Serena also generated some AI pictures of their wedding with a fake background using their prison photos.
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado, now hopes for a federal re-trial and also that Trump will pardon him.
Documentarian Serena said: “I”m beyond excited that Joe has agreed to give me his first face-to-face interview in seven years.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear his story directly from him – raw, unfiltered, and straight from prison. Joe has so much to say about his conviction, the betrayals he’s faced, and the shocking truths that the world needs to hear.
“This is more than a documentary – it’s an unflinching exposé and the first time audiences hear the full story of the Tiger King.
“If Joe’s claims are proved to be true, this would be a chilling example of what happens when our words are weaponized.”
The Exotic Truth will be released at some point in 2025.