Grief and Jail with Joe Exotic | 007

How do you move through that grief? Like, how do you navigate

the pain? Like, are any

You know, you you get numb to it. I mean, there's not

a day, goes by that I don't think of all of them.

Yeah. But but, you know, it's it's,

it's like my parents both died since I've been in here too.

Mhmm. It's just you you you literally just get

numb to it. And I think that's why, I

I wrap myself up with with animals so much,

in my life because, you know, I I

just got tired of of the loss of people.

Welcome back to another episode of Resilient AF

with Blair and Alana. But this time, no Alana,

but a very interesting guest. So when it

was proposed to me to see if I want to interview this person,

I wasn't sure because there's lots of controversy

around this specific person. But then I remembered we

all deserve to share our story. And

some circumstances are in our control and some are

not, and I'm really honored and grateful that

I had a chance to do this interview. I was told there's a couple conditions.

This person was going to be calling me from jail. I had to

pick up. I only had 30 minutes, and

so we began our journey. And

so we made a plan, but I got a message

that he was in solitary and that we had to reschedule.

So we rescheduled, and while I was on a mini vacation, I made time

to meet with him. He did not show up. We tried again the next

day. He did not show up. I was getting

upset and frustrated. I then learned that the jail was in lockdown because of a

fight. And so when

we find and then the next day, we did not have a plan to talk,

and I had 2 missed calls from the jail. So I knew that I was

not getting stood up and that this interview would happen, but I was giving

up hope. I was giving up hope. And

so we finally connected, and

I got a call from jail in Texas

from Joe Exotic, the Tiger

King. Now before

I introduce him, a couple things you should know.

He called from jail, had to get my number approved,

had to be very specific at a specific time. I only had

15 minutes that I wasn't aware of. So the the interview does

end quite abruptly, but it was a really powerful 15

minutes. And we talked

more about him, his upbringing, and his experience with grief,

and I learned some stuff. If you're a diehard Joe

Exotic fan, maybe you've read his book and watched his music videos

and have been to his website. All of his links are in the show

notes. You know, he's he's working really

hard at trying to get a pardon,

and I learned that he's been in jail since

2018, 2 years before the Netflix

series aired that he had nothing to do with.

So sit back, relax,

enjoy the conversation with the Tiger King about

his incarceration, his childhood, complex

grief, and

the journey that got him there. So Joseph

Allen Maldano, also known as Joe

Exotic and the Tiger King, he's an American media personality and businessman

who operated the GW Exotic Animal

Park. So the GW Zoo in honor of his brother is what it's named

after. Tiger King Park, formerly the Gerald Wayne

Exotic Animal Memorial Park in Oklahoma. He was born in

Kansas. Him and his family moved to Texas where he went

to Pilot Point High School. After graduation, he briefly served

as the chief of police of Eastville. He then opened a pet store

devastating, Exotic sold the store, and he started the GW

Zoo. I'm not gonna go too deep into him. You can

Google him and and a bunch of stuff comes out. I wanna encourage you to

go to his website. He has his social media handles below as well. I didn't

even know he wrote a book, and I'm excited to dive into it. He

is smart, and the Netflix

series paints him as, a specific type of

character. And and some of that is is true, and it's it's

within him. But my perception of him is that

he is one of us. He's the walking wounded who carries trauma,

who carries grief, betrayal.

And I just wanna say thank

you, Joe, for taking the time to call me. I'm so honored that we

finally connected. And

sit back and enjoy the ride.

Oh my gosh. I can't believe we finally connected. I thought you were maybe, like,

a myth a mythical conspiracy. Hell no.

No. How are you doing? Oh, not too bad

considering it's prison. Yeah. So,

you know, we I know we only have a limited amount of time together.

And Right. I'm not too sure what you've been

kinda told about our show, but, it's all about

grief and resilience. And I'd love to just talk to you a bit about your

life. Ask anything you want.

Alright. So, I mean, the world is very familiar with you. You you

basically shared absolutely almost everything on your Netflix

show during the pandemic. And, like, I fell in love with you. I think

you're quirky and, like, I am always wearing

animal prints. And, like, it just I don't know. I I I love the

vibe that you give off, your honesty. But I

wanna go back to your childhood, and I'd love

to know what some of the happiest memories you have from your childhood

are. You know, there there there wasn't very many.

And I think that's what makes me who I am today. Why

I help people so much and I do so much nonprofit stuff and

everything because my childhood sucked.

I you know, every day of my life, my mom and dad

fought. Even though they were married 72 years, they fought

every day. Mhmm. And then and then, you know, I

had, some sexual abuse from

my my oldest brother and my dad, you know, growing

up. Oh, gosh. So I don't know if

you ever read my book. It's all in my book, you know. But,

yeah. I mean, other than other than,

you know, the the time that I was growing up in

Wyoming and able to have,

pet raccoons and porcupines and stuff,

real honest to god. I I can't think of any time I

had fun being a kid. I'm sorry you

went through all that. That's absolutely terrible. And I

did read that you were close with your brother who passed away.

Is that true? Yeah. Very. He he he was my

mentor. Absolutely. Me and my brother was

in business. You know, we owned that pet store together for

16 years. What's your brother's name?

Gerald Wayne, g w. GW. Well, may GW's

memory be a blessing. But so that's That's what we that that's what

we built that zoo in memory of. You know? We built it as a memorial

park, you know, to save animals and memory of people who've died. And that that's

probably the the saddest part about this whole story is there was

a 151 other memorials there,

and 3 people were actually buried under their their

exhibits. You know? Wow. Jeff Jeff and Carol

and them just completely destroy it. Is

there no more memorials there because, there's the new ownership?

It it's it's a ghost town. I mean, they they just completely

destroyed it, and the weeds are taller than the cages. Oh, that's

absolutely terrible, especially because it was a memorial. Yeah.

But back to GW, like, I know you said you didn't have a lot of

happy memories from your childhood. But if you think maybe more

specifically with you and GW, can you remember, like, some times that

you guys had a lot of fun and that there was last Well, and, you

know, and that and that goes that goes again back to Wyoming.

You know? Me me and Gerald used to always go

horseback riding because we lived in the mountains. So we spent almost every

day on a horse in the mountains. And and

we would, go exploring in old mines,

shafts, and blowing up

beaver dams and and, you know, stuff like that. And,

you know, my brother is the one who who

taught me that your word is This call is from a

federal prison. Your word is no good. You you're just a piece of

shit because the respect that you you leave

behind is all you take with you when you die.

Yeah. How how old was he when he passed away?

32. That's like, I can't

even imagine, like, I don't you don't probably don't know too much about my story,

but in a very short period of time, my husband almost died. We

suffered a miscarriage. We don't have children. My

father-in-law, mom, and dad all died, and that was in a few years. And

so I navigated grief for my parents and a child,

but I've never lost my sibling, which I have one sister. So I

I definitely have no idea how you felt in the sense of losing

your sibling, and that seems to be your closest family member. How do you

think that grief impacted you? I

changed my life, completely. You know,

and and I I had I had

twin little boys, that that,

she was 9 months pregnant with, and she had a wreck and they died.

And, you know, and then and then before my

brother died, my first husband of 16 years died, you

know. And and then Gerald died,

and then my last husband, you know, shot himself. You saw that in

the movie. Oh my gosh. Tiger King. So so

death death has been a big part of my life, you know,

growing up. And, I got a a

young, experience of it because probably

one of my first jobs was, when I was 13 years old. I was

a nurse's aide in a nursing home, and I saw a lot of

people die there. But, yeah, it it

when my brother died, it changed my life. It it almost

destroyed my parents. I couldn't, you know, I couldn't even

imagine what they went through because my dad lived to

die every day. Yeah. That's

And, that's painful. Like, it's it's like, there's

there's no, like, there's certain types

of grief that, you know, like, my grandma, like, she's

91. She'll she'll die soon. Like, we expect that. But when things don't

happen in the right order, like, a parent isn't supposed to bury their

child. Right? Like Right. Right. You know? And, like, losing your brother

before your parents. Like, things are just out of order, and I can't even imagine

what what that would be like. Like, I watched both my grandparents bury their

children. My my mom's mom buried her daughter, her oldest daughter, and my

grandma grandma buried my dad. And it's just so

not the way that life's supposed to be, and then you

get hit with this absolutely tragic experience.

And you've had a lot of loss. Right? Yeah. Your your first

husband, GW, you know, your your other

partner or husband shot themselves. How how do you

move through that grief? Like, how do you navigate the pain?

Like, or any You

know, you you get numb to it. I mean, there's not a

day, goes by that I don't think of all of them.

Yeah. But, you know, it's it's

it's like my parents both died since I've been in here too. Mhmm.

It's just you you literally just get numb to it. And I think

that's why, I wrapped my

This call is from a federal prison. My I wrapped myself up

with with animals so much, in my

life because, you know, I I just

got tired of of the loss of people. I mean, losing

an animal is also very devastating. I've buried, like, I've I've lost a

few cats and like so it's like losing a person.

It is. And and, you know, I did a a music video about,

my my chimpanzee dying, you know, and and it was

like losing a kid.

But, I mean, it's tough. I I

the only way I'm going to be able to change anything or do

anything in memory of them is if I keep fighting.

And and that's that's my drive, you know. Yeah.

My my big goal is to testify in front of congress when

I make it out of here. And I'm gonna change

the system somehow, some way. I'm gonna change the system.

And I'm gonna do it in in memory of my mom and dad and my

brother because I they destroyed they destroyed my

life, to close that zoo down and put me in

here. Yeah. You know, they were married 72 years.

And the minute they put me in jail, they put them in separate nursing homes

so they couldn't communicate, so they could take their prop my my

niece could take their property away from them,

and they died alone after 72 years of marriage. And it's

it's not right. No. That's heartbreaking. I mean, like

Yeah. Yeah. I mean It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. Because my

brother, GW, never left home. He always

lived on the same property as my mom and dad even with his

wife and kids, you know, but in a different house,

because my brother swore that they would never go to a nursing home.

And when he died, I sold the pet store in in

Texas, and I moved to Oklahoma to take care of my mom and dad.

And together, we built that zoo. You know? Yeah.

And the minute they got me arrested, they took my power of attorney away from

me, that I had on mom and dad, and they slapped him

in in nursing homes. The exact same thing that my brother never

wanted to happen. They slapped him in separate nursing homes, and

my niece took their house and their their property and and let

them die alone in a nursing That's that's

terrible. So I I do, like, agree like, you

you are not a stranger to grief and, like, trauma.

So the Netflix series, like, how did you decide to do

do all that? Like, what what was the catalyst in putting

your Yeah. Well outstand? Well, I understand that I didn't film

for Netflix. Okay? I didn't film for Tiger

King. Everything that you saw me on that

show, they took either off of my YouTube channel

or Dylan, my husband at the time, signed a contract

and sold them my footage from me filming.

Okay. I was filming my own show, my own reality show.

And and he sold them my footage for $2,600,000

and left me here. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I didn't get

a dime. Yeah. So many people think that that

I filmed that for for I didn't I didn't I was in

jail 2 years before Netflix even filmed that. Oh my

gosh. I had no idea. That's crazy. Oh, yeah.

and Tiger King was filmed in in 18/19.

So so you were arrested when it came out on

Netflix? Like, you're already in jail? I was in jail 2 years

already. Yes. Wow. And when you

got a did you know you were going to get arrested? Nope.

Had no clue. I

like, my mind is blown right now that that that they were able

to do that about you with all of your footage without your

consent. Yeah. And they had no consent of mine,

and then they turned around and he sold all of my clothes to a museum

in Las Vegas too. I I have nothing. I have no home. I

have no clothes. I have nothing. I have no pictures

from when I was a kid. Nothing anymore. It's

all gone. Everything. That's I'm that's so

sad. So so why did you get arrested? Like,

obviously, there's tons of articles. I went through your website. I know you have a

bunch of evidence that wasn't used. Like, what what was what did

they arrest you on and how long was your sentence from

today? They arrested me in Pensacola,

Florida. I was at my rent house down there with Dylan. Okay?

And they arrested me in a hospital parking lot because I was

I was at the hospital fixing to get a blood infusion.

They arrested me in the parking lot. One murder for hire charge.

Okay? And I was like, what the hell do you mean murder for hire?

So they extradited me from Florida back

to Oklahoma City, and they tried to get me to plead guilty

to one murder for hire charge. And I was like, I haven't done

anything. So I want my day in court because I thought I could

trust the system. It will the minute that I asked for a

trial, they superseded my indictment with 20

more charges. Wow. So that's where they put all the

health certificates on there, you know, Lacey violations, and

then they charged me for euthanizing those 5 tigers without a permit

and all kinds of stupid shit. Do you think So that way they could

so that way they can drag that all around in front of the jury. You

know? Do do you think this would have happened if Dylan didn't sell all

that footage? No. It wouldn't have. Absolutely, it

wouldn't have. K. So anyway, they

convicted me and they sentenced me to 22 years. And

as of right now, if I don't get a pardon or I don't

win my appeal, which I should, I have 5 years left.

5 years. And if you win your appeal, when would you get out?

I would get out immediately. And how

how can we, the public, help support you in winning an

appeal? Like, is there Blair Blair, hey, this is fixing to hang up. So let

me real quick, get on all of my social media. They should have posted a

petition today. Sign the petition. Share it around. I'm

trying to get a pardon, and, just

spread the evidence around. But the big thing is put hashtag freejillexotic

on every post Trump and Biden puts out there.

And as you can tell, our interview,

abruptly abruptly ended because I thought we had 30 minutes, and I didn't know

we had 15. And luckily, he gave me gave me a little warning, like,

I'm getting, you know, told to hang up. So some questions I

wanted to ask him that perhaps if there's another interview or if we write about

him in the future, I wanted to talk to him about forgiveness. I wanted to

talk to him about how he can forgive himself for any choices he made that

may have, you know, hurt people or,

let him on a certain path. I wanted to talk to him more about his

cancer diagnosis. I, online, read that he was diagnosed

with prostate cancer. And, so, unfortunately, we didn't have

time to get to those. So I wanna thank you for listening

to our vulnerable, real, raw

chat between Joe and me

from jail to Kamloops. And just

remember, friends, you're gonna get through those hard times.

You can do it. And if you believe you're gonna get through

it and you put the effort in, you will. We are

here to help you get through your hard times, to inspire you, to strengthen your

resilience muscle. Let us be that lighthouse in the storm.

Let us help you through your dark times. You are not alone.

It is okay to not be okay. And remember, friends,

you are resilient, a

f.