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April 2 (UPI) -- Joseph Maldonado-Passage, the Tiger King star best known by the name "Joe Exotic," is divorcing his husband to marry a man he met while they were both incarcerated. A public statement from his attorney, Autumn Beck Blackledge, announced that he filed for divorce on Thursday from his husband of four years, Dillon Passage. The pair had last lived together in Gulf Breeze, Fla.
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"Joe 'Exotic' has tried to obtain information about Mr. Passage and his whereabouts so that the two could enter into what he hopes to be an amicable divorce, but so far, his attempts to get Mr. Passage to contact him have failed," the press release stated. "It is the hope of the Tiger King that they can both move on with their lives and divorce quickly and amicably."
Passage had previously announced on Instagram that the pair was splitting up in March 2021.
In divorce documents obtained by TMZ, Maldonado-Passage said the marriage is "irretrievably broken."
Autumn Beck Blackledge told People that Maldonado-Passage, 59, now seeks to marry John Graham, who he met while they were both incarcerated. Graham has since been released.
"John Robert Graham and I are officially engaged and plan to marry as soon as my divorce is final," Maldonado-Passage said in a tweet on Saturday. "We were together over one year in prison and he is home now with our son. I have never met such an amazing man in my life. He treats me so well, you will love him."
In 2019, a jury convicted Maldonado-Passage of plotting to hire a hitman to kill Carole Baskin, a professional rival who operated a competing big cat and wildlife park. He's currently serving a 21-year sentence at Federal Medical Center, Butner in North Carolina.
