Dillon Passage on Marriage with Joe Exotic: ‘The Only Thing Keeping Us Going Is Hoping for the Best'



He's also been writing his husband love letters.

"I actually just sent one of the lawyers a letter today so they could send it in legal mail. So he'll get it faster than if it's waiting in the system to go through," says Passage, who is currently living in Pensacola, Florida.

Recently, the Tiger King star took a trip to Los Angeles — where he hung out with Too Hot to Handle's Harry Jowsey and Bryce Hirschberg — and shares that the time in Southern California "was absolutely amazing."

"My favorite part was going up to the Hollywood sign," Passage says, explaining that he visited L.A. because his manager connected him with stars from the Netflix series Too Hot to Handle.

"It was my first time going to California and I just think … the Hollywood sign was like you got to go to it when you go to LA. So that was one of the first places I wanted to go. And I mean, it was pretty cool," Passage says.

Passage previously opened up about his relationship with Joe Exotic, telling PEOPLE in April that they started out as friends.

“I never figured I’d marry Joe Exotic,” Passage said. “I had no idea who he was. I never Googled him or anything.”

But Joe Exotic was “very flirty” as he sang karaoke to “This Old Town” on their first date, while Passage said he was “kind of shy at first. After Joe sang, I loosened up a little bit and I was having a really good time.”

Passage had only recently arrived in Oklahoma after leaving Nacogdoches, Texas, where he was studying psychology and criminal justice at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The pair got engaged soon after and were married on Dec. 11, 2017, just two months after Joe Exotic’s previous husband, Travis Maldonado, accidentally shot himself and died.

“Joe had a long conversation with me whenever he proposed. He was like, ‘I need somebody who’s going to be here for me. You may not be in love with me right now, but you will be,’ ” Passage recalled. “I was in a bad place in my life and Joe really was helping me out and getting me healthy. And it was good to have somebody who I felt could take my loneliness away and bring me out of my depression and be there for me no matter what. And Joe made me feel like that.”

“Joe took Travis’ death very, very hard,” Passage said. “Whenever he met me, he said that he felt like he had a reason to keep going. Everyone around the park was like, ‘You’re making him super happy. He needs you.’ ”

Passage admitted that while he’s “100 percent” in love with his partner now, the marriage grew into that emotion.

“It was like a companionship at first and then I just really saw his true colors and the kind person he was,” he said. “Animals have always been a big deal in my life. When I was little, I’d always bring home any animal I could find. And I could see Joe’s heart that he was very in love and committed to his animals.”

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