Joe Exotic's ex-husband has insisted their wedding was a "publicity stunt" to make his former partner famous.
Joe Exotic
John Finlay has insisted the three-way nuptials between himself, Joe, and Travis Maldonado - who took his own life in 2017 - that took place in 2014 and were featured on 'Tiger King' were "fake" and the ceremony doesn't compare to his recent marriage to wife Stormey.
John - who wore a pink shirt that matched the outfit of his fellow grooms for the 2014 ceremony - told The Sun newspaper: “My fake wedding didn’t feel right at all. This is a totally different feeling.
“The fake one was basically a publicity stunt so Joe could get his own reality TV series. This one was the real thing.
“I didn’t wear a suit, the only time I’ll do that will be for my funeral. But I wasn’t in a pink shirt either.
“I wore a button-up black Western shirt, jeans and my rattlesnake boots.”
The 37-year-old welder - who is now free of drugs having battled crystal meth addiction when he lived with Joe - is now desperate to get rid of the tattoos his "mean" former partner convinced him to get, including four inkings bearing the zoo keeper's name.
He said: “My only short-term goal is to get all my tattoos covered up, which I’m in the process of doing.
“It helps get rid of old memories and I will feel a lot freer when they are gone. Before I had the main one covered up I didn’t really have a sex life at all.
“Then I got it covered and it was a whole different story. It’s bad when you’ve got some-one’s name tattooed down there right next to your private area.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but it said Privately Owned By Joe Exotic. I agreed to have it but I wasn’t in a sound frame of mind.
“I didn’t think my choices through on tattoos. I don’t think I was drunk or high, but Joe said if I got that tattoo, I could possibly get another tattoo (of something else). That was the negotiation.
“Looking back, it was pretty mean of him. I haven’t had the others removed because I don’t have the money. It’s $125 an hour to get them covered and it can take five to ten hours per tattoo.”
Although he's no longer in contact with Joe, John is open to appearing on another series of 'Tiger King'.
He said: "I going to be a part of the second Tiger King series? You will have to ask them that question.
“I was happy to be a part of the first one.
“The only issues I had were the fake wedding and the fact they made me look like a drugged-up hillbilly.
“I don’t want to comment on how much money I had from Tiger King. I wasn’t in it for the money. I was in it for the fun.”