Carole Baskin has shocked the internet after claiming her ex-husband is actually alive!
Carole’s claims come despite her husband being missing for decades.
Her claims have left people stunned.
“I’d fake my death too if I was married to that woman…” one fan joked.
“So she gave him a million then knowingly went along with the whole she fed him to tigers scandal… one way to get publicity I suppose,” offered another.
“Why hasn’t he come forward to at least show the world he’s actually alive??! Not sure I believe he’s alive,” opined a third.
So, what’s going on?
Now, Tiger King has really got us by the throat…
So much so that even the name “Joe Exotic” has become a household staple.
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The eccentric big cat owner rose to fame after the release of the Netflix series, Tiger King.
Maybe it was the fact we were back in lockdown, but it quickly became all anyone could talk about.
Tiger King is perhaps the most binge-able show Netflix has ever graced our screens with.
And that’s saying something…
The Tiger King docuseries gave us a majestic insight into the captivity of big cats here in America.
The 7-part series retells the story of a war between a very flamboyant tiger owner named Joe Exotic and his enemy, a Florida-based animal activist named Carole Baskin.
But it isn’t just about the lions and tigers…
It is mostly about the scandalous lives of these people in America’s big cat community…
There was a lot of drama in the life of Joe Exotic…
And the big cat owner seemed to really have it in for Carole Baskin
He shared , with footage showing him repeatedly wishing death upon her.
And even describing how he would like to kill her after she tried to expose his zoo.
But people seemed to forget that this was actually based on real-life…
And when Joe’s life gradually began to spiral out of control, he landed himself into some deep trouble.
Joe is an openly gay man…
In a shocking scene in the doc, he married both John Finlay and Travis Maldonado in a 3-way ceremony.
Both of his husbands gradually deteriorated with drug use and mental health problems.
Travis tragically took his own life after he made claims that he wasn’t at all gay, and Joe had simply hoodwinked him by fueling his addictions.
And after this marriage tragically fell apart…
Joe himself fell into a downward spiral and his obsession with Carole and her missing ex-husband grew even bigger.
And things slowly took a turn for the worse.
Joe was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison.
He allegedly hired a hitman to take Carole out while she was biking down a deserted bike path…
But, the FBI became involved and thus foiled his dangerous plan.
Most of us believe that this sentencing is more than reasonable.
Despite how cooky he comes across on camera, it’s undeniable that Joe belongs behind bars for his appalling behavior to both his staff and his innocent animals.
With Joe still behind bars, we thought we had seen it all in the first series, but that was not the case…
Tiger King 2 soon took the internet by storm.
Season 2 of the show came to Netflix …
Bringing with it more drama and revelations than we could ever have hoped for.
One of the biggest revelations being that Carole’s “missing” ex-husband is actually alive…
And it has shocked a lot of people…
But what’s really strange is that the show dropped in 2021.
So somehow, this major news update managed to pass us all by … until now.
The second series delved deep into the mysterious disappearance of Baskin’s ex-husband…
And it seems as though they found out what really happened to him all those years ago.
Baskin’s ex-husband, Don Lewis, went missing back in 1997, after being married to the Tiger King star for 6 years.
After 5 years without any update on his whereabouts, he was officially declared dead in 2002.
The first season ruminated on the possibility that Baskin might have had something to do with his disapperance…
Obviously, she denied the allegations.
And now it has been reported that he is actually alive and well.
In an interview with ITV’s This Morning, Baskin said: “One of the really exciting things that came out of Tiger King 2 is that they produced a letter from Homeland Security.”
“It says that a special agent in charge with the FBI at Homeland Security reached out to the sheriff’s detective George Fernandez.”
“Which means this had to have happened after 2002 because Homeland Security wasn’t even around until 2002.”
“And they said that my husband, Don Lewis, is alive and well in Costa Rica,” she continued.
“And yet all of this hay has been made about me having something to do with his disappearance when Homeland Security has known where he is at least since back then.”
She also said that she didn’t believe her husband would have been able to support himself for so long without needing money…
“He took about a million dollars down into Costa Rica and I had agreed to let him do that so he could prove to himself that he could make a living,” she said.
“And when we recovered what we could out of that years later, it was only about $80,000 because the investments he had made were so bad.
“So I don’t know how it is that Homeland Security says he’s alive and well in Costa Rica but I’m glad to hear it.”
TMZ also posted a screenshot of what looked to be a document from the Department of Homeland Security confirming the news!
“[Redacted] has learned that Don Lewis is currently alive and well in Costa Rica,” the letter reads.
“Upon receiving this information, S/A [redacted] contacted Hillsborough Detective Jorge Fernandez and advised him of Lewis’ whereabouts.
“S/A [redacted] has learned that Lewis has loaned money to various individuals in Costa Rica and could live quite well on the interest earned from these loans.
“Lewis could reside in Costa Rica indefinitely. This investigation will be closed.”
It’s not yet confirmed as to whether this document is genuine, however.
You can watch the groundbreaking interview right here!
And now, Baskin’s arch-nemesis, Joe Exotic, has responded to her claims.
“During the filming of Tiger King, detailed efforts were made to find Don Lewis. They all failed. He is not alive,” lawyer John M. Phillips posted on Facebook.
“The 2021 report by Carole Baskin was further unsupported allegation.
“It’s being republished as if it has veracity. It doesn’t.
“The story of the Tiger King is filled with lies, set up and misdirection. We still await a hearing for Joe’s freedom.
“The lies and set up are spelled out in his Motion for New Trial. Read it. The work is done.”
What do you think of the news?