He married Joe Exotic just two weeks after they met, their whirlwind courtship chronicled on Netflix‘s hit show Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem And Madness.
Now Dillion Passage has opened up for the first time about his relationship with the unforgettable star of the viral documentary series, giving his first full interview on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live.
Dillion, 24, admitted he was addicted to prescription drugs when he met his future husband on gay dating site Grindr two weeks before they wed on December 11, 2017.
Wedding day: Dillion Passage, centre left, with Joe Exotic, centre right, on their wedding day in December 2017, as seen on Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem And Madness
‘Quarantine and chill’: Dillion is waiting out the pandemic in Florida, where he was working as a hotel barman
Saying he was reliant on ‘prescribed narcotics’ and specifically ‘Xanax’ at the time, Dillion said the marriage – Joe’s fourth – was a form of ‘rehab’ for him.
‘I was in a really bad place in my life when I met Joe,’ he said. ‘ I was going through things. I was an addict and being around the animals kind of gave me a purpose. I felt like I was doing something with my life, it was like my own little rehab.’
And the Florida-based bartender has no regrets about his rushed wedding to the 57-year-old former zookeeper and onetime presidential candidate, who is currently serving a 22-year sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire plot.
‘I do love Joe, he’s been there for me through my darkest times and I’m not just going to abandon him when he needs me most.’
Admitting that he ‘definitely jumped the gun’, Dillion also insisted, ‘I’m not ashamed of it whatsoever’.
Husband: Dillion has no regrets about his rushed wedding to the 57-year-old former zookeeper and onetime presidential candidate, who is currently serving a 22-year sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire plot
And while Cohen seemed confused about why the handsome young bartender would marry Joe, Dillion said it wasn’t for the money – revealing he signed a prenup.
‘He was just super sweet to me and he just came off as very genuine, a good down to earth guy,’ he told Cohen of ‘charismatic’ Joe.
‘I wasn’t after anything Joe had. All I wanted to do was stay home and take care of my animals.’
And Dillon’s family also accepted the relationship.
‘My mom was shocked at first, she was like, “He’s as old as me, we’re the same age!”
‘But I mean they were cool with it, they weren’t judgmental, they were very open to having Joe in the family.’
Dillon, who is waiting out the coronavirus pandemic in Florida, where he now works as a hotel barman, told Cohen he was ‘very loyal to Joe’.
The two still speak multiple times a day.
‘We speak three to five times every day,’ said Dillion, although he revealed Joe is currently unable to use a phone while he waits out a 14-day Covid-19 quarantine after moving to a new jail.
‘A form of rehab’: Dillion loved his life with Joe at the zoo
While heavy drug use at Joe Exotic’s zoo is alluded to on the Netflix series, Dillion claims to have seen no evidence of this.
He said: ‘Joe never once encouraged me to do any drugs, I smoked a little weed but that was it.
‘I honestly knew nothing about drugs at the park, all I did was stay inside and take care of my baby animals and walk around the park.’
Dillion defended Joe, saying: ‘Joe, he’s a really good guy. He may have made some sketchy decisions and I know he regrets them but he would do anything for people in need.’
And he said Joe was delighted with his newfound fame.
‘He’s in jail so he cant necessarily watch [Tiger King], but once the show dropped he was getting hundreds and hundreds of emails to his jailmail, he’s enjoying the attention a lot.’