“Hey all you cool cats and kittens,” Carole Baskin’s husband isn’t dead after all.
The “Tiger King” star’s ex-husband, Don Lewis, has been found alive in Costa Rica, but the discovery is just now going viral — over a year later.
During a November 2021 interview with ITV’s “This Morning” talk show, Baskin, 61, revealed that her ex, who was declared legally dead in 2002 after disappearing a few years before, is actually alive and well.
The Big Cat Rescue owner alleged that the Department of Homeland Security has been in touch with her former lover.
“One of the really exciting things that came out of ‘Tiger King 2’ is that they produced a letter from Homeland Security and 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,” Baskin told the outlet at the time.
She continued, revealing, “And they said that my husband, Don Lewis, is alive and well in Costa Rica.”
The Post has reached out to Baskin for comment.
“Tiger King” star Carole Baskin says that her ex-husband, who was declared dead in 2002, has actually been found alive. Getty Images for NightFly Entert
Don LewisHillsborough County Sheriff's Office
Carole Baskin has appeared in a viral TikTok video set to a song that claims she killed her once-missing husband, Don Lewis.NetflixLewis has not made any public statements debunking rumors that he had died.
And, even though the news is over a year old, people are only just starting to pay attention to it thanks to now-viral social media posts.
“Was I the only one that didn’t know they found Carole Baskin’s husband living his best life in Costa Rica?!” someone wrote on Twitter.
Baskin revealed in an interview that her husband was found in Costa Rica after being declared legally dead in 2002.©Netflix/Courtesy Everett ColleAnother person wrote, “Hold on, I’m seeing people saying that Carole Baskin’s husband was found ALIVE???”
During the hit Netflix docu-series which premiered at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Baskin revealed that her ex-husband had mysteriously disappeared in 1997. At the time of his disappearance, the two were married, and she claimed that she never heard from him again, according to CBS News.
She has since gotten remarried, having wed Howard Baskin in 2004.
Carole Baskin, seen here with current husband Howard Baskin, says her ex-husband is alive. Getty Images for NightFly EntertAfter Baskin shared her story on the series that chronicled the trials and tribulations of incarcerated big-cat keeper Joseph Maldonado-Passage, many people thought that Baskin had something to do with her ex’s disappearance. Some even launched into some outlandish conspiracy theories, including an unfounded claim that she was involved in a murder-for-hire plot. Joe Exotic also alleged that she had fed her ex to the tigers at Big Cat Rescue.
Baskin was so traumatized by it all that she joined a “secret” support group for celebrities going through similar things.
Joe Exotic is currently serving a 21-year sentence.Santa Rosa County Jail via AP, FileLewis’ family also thought that Baskin was involved in his disappearance, even paying for a TV spot during her 2020 debut on “Dancing With The Stars,” asking the public for answers and tips.
“Do you know who did this or if Carole Baskin was involved?” family lawyer John Phillips said during the commercial.
However, Baskin has vehemently denied those claims.
“I believe their actions are just a publicity stunt,” the owner of Big Cat Rescue said in an email to CNN after the commercial was aired, “but if it helps us find Don, then that will be a huge relief.”
