AceShowbiz - Jailed "Tiger King" star Joe Exotic is no longer heading to divorce court - he and his husband, Dillon Passage, have "decided to stay married".

Dillon took to Instagram in late March to break the news of their split to fans online, revealing he was "seeking a divorce" from Joe after three years of marriage.

The news left Joe devastated, but it appears they are now trying to give their relationship another go, as they are no longer discussing legal proceedings to officially call it quits, according to the disgraced former zoo owner.

"You know, I talk to Dillon three times a day on the telephone, and we love each other very much," Joe shared with Entertainment Tonight.

"He has been out there alone for two-and-a-half years... The guy has been through hell and he has stood by my side the entire time and we were talking about a divorce a few weeks ago so he could move on, and we talked about it some more and we decided to stay married."

However, Joe accepts his spouse cannot "hang on forever", while he continues to serve a 22-year prison term for his role in a murder-for-hire plot to kill his rival, animal rights activist Carole Baskin, as well as various wildlife violations, which were chronicled in 2020 Netflix docuseries "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness".

"You know, if he needs to move on, I have to respect that, I can't expect him to just hang on forever," he accepted. "He has told me time and time again... if I make it out of here alive, I still have a home to come to. So, he said he is not going anywhere, all right? That is all I can say because that is all I know."

Passage is Exotic's second husband - they tied the knot in December, 2017, just two months after his first spouse, Travis Maldonado, shot himself in a fatal accident. The tiger breeder was arrested nine months into his second union.