‘Tiger King’: What Is Carole Baskin’s Net Worth?
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness has quickly become a phenomenon. People around the U.S. are watching the docuseries and wondering how such an insane story could be true. One of the craziest storylines is the feud between Carole Baskin and Joe ‘Exotic’ Maldonado-Passage. Not only did the story end with Maldonado-Passage going to jail for trying to murder Baskin, but the documentary also shed light on the possible murder of Baskin’s ex-husband, Don Lewis.
Because she has been the source of not one but two strange murder scandals, Baskin has become a point of conversation since the show came out. So, how much is Baskin worth?
Carole’s husband’s disappearance
Baskin met millionaire Lewis when she was 19. He spotted her when she was walking down the street after an argument with her first husband. Years later, Lewis left his wife and four children to be with her. On Aug. 18, 1997, Lewis disappeared. Because the two were having marital problems prior to his disappearance, many people, including Lewis’ children, thought that Baskin may have killed him. Some people believed that she may have even fed him to her tigers.
“It’s a perfect scenario to dispose of someone,” Donna Pettis, Lewis’ oldest daughter told People. “We were upset that the cops didn’t test the DNA on the meat grinder.”
How much is Carole Baskin worth?
After Lewis died, Baskin and Lewis’ children fought over the money he left behind. His children claimed that Baskin forged Lewis’ will and power of attorney, according to People. Baskin alleged that the children should only receive $1 million in properties since they belonged to Lewis before they were married. Lewis’ business affairs and holdings were estimated at over $5 million.
Baskin received a temporary court order to use $152,000 from the real estate operations to run Big Cat Rescue. Baskin then tried to negotiate settlements to give her stepdaughters $1 million and allow her to have the rest.
Five years after his disappearance, Lewis was officially declared dead. It is unknown exactly how much Baskin is worth now that her second husband has been declared deceased. According to The Famous Data, she could be worth between $1 million and $10 million.
Carole claims she did not kill her husband
After the Netflix docuseries aired, Baskin wrote a blog post to clear her name from the allegations made against her. She claimed that Netflix told her that they wanted to expose the mistreatment of big cats in the documentary.
“There are not words for how disappointing it is to see that the docuseries not only does not do any of that, but has had the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible to draw viewers,” she wrote. “As part of that, it has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don 21 years ago. The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims. They did not care about truth. The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers.”
She specifically refuted he claim that she could have put Lewis’ body through her meat grinder.
“This is the most ludicrous of all the lies,” she wrote. “As Gladys and the daughters did everything they could to make life difficult for me after Don disappeared, they spread this rumor that they thought I had ground Don up and fed him to the cats. And the media loved it. The meat grinder shown in the video was enormous. Our meat grinder was one of those little tabletop, hand crank things, like you’d have in your kitchen at home.”
