Culture October 20, 2020

'Tiger King' star Carole Baskin comes out as bisexual

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Former "Dancing With the Stars" contestant and "Tiger King" star Carole Baskin opened up about her sexuality on Monday.

Speaking to Pink News, the Big Cat Rescue owner revealed she is bisexual and admitted she's been holding on to that secret for over 30 years.

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"I have always considered myself to be bisexual, even though I've never had a wife. I could just as easily have a wife as a husband, as far as the way I feel about us," Baskin explained. "I just don't see us as being different genders or different colors or different anything."

The 59-year-old Netflix personality added that she felt conflicted about her sexuality and gender when she was a child, noting she was a proud tomboy.

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"I was always very male-oriented in the things I did," Baskin recalled. "I never had any mothering instincts or anything, you know, I never played with dolls. And so I always thought that there was something off there, that I couldn’t quite put my finger on."

The big cat activist also slammed her arch nemesis, Joe Exotic, who is openly gay, in the interview.

"This man is just a deviant in the way he treats human life and animal life," she said. "I think he's an embarrassment to the human community."

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Later in the interview, Baskin revealed she was shocked by how she was portrayed in "Tiger King," adding that her phone "started ringing... every two minutes for three months straight with people screaming at me how much they hated me."

Baskin still maintains she is committed to saving wild tigers because they are facing extinction.