Joe Exotic Files For Divorce From Dillon Passage: Our Union Is 'Irretrievably Broken'

Joseph “Joe Exotic” Maldonado-Passage has filed for divorce from husband Dillon Passage.

The filing comes a year after Dillon announced that he and Joe Exotic were seeking to put an end to their marriage.

Autumn Beck Blackledge, Joe Exotic’s attorney, said in a press release that the “Tiger King” star made the filing on Thursday in Santa Rosa County, Florida.

“While it was rumored that Mr. Passage had filed for divorce almost a year ago upon his public announcement on social media, Mr. Passage failed to serve his husband and did not follow through with obtaining a divorce through the legal system,” she explained in the press release.

According to Blackledge, her client “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 American TV personality claimed in court documents that his union with Dillon is “irretrievably broken.” He is also seeking “temporary, rehabilitative, durational, bridge-the-gap, and lump sum alimony" to help him maintain his standard of living after the divorce. He also seeks to restore his former name back to Joseph Allen Maldonado and wants Dillon to pay his legal fees.

Joe Exotic, who is currently serving his 21-year prison sentence for animal abuse and attempted murder-for-hire, married Dillon in December 2017. In March 2021, they announced their intention to end their marriage after three years of being together.

“Dillon thinks having to sleep alone and not have me out there is so rough and hard to deal with to the point he has to leave me,” Joe Exotic wrote on Instagram at the time. “Now I don’t even have a home,” he added, claiming that his husband had “abandoned him” to have someone else to sleep with.

In a separate Instagram post, Dillon addressed their split and said it wasn’t an easy decision to make. “To answer the main question the public wants to know, yes, Joe and I are seeking a divorce. This wasn’t an easy decision to make but Joe and I both understand that this situation isn’t fair to either of us,” he wrote.