ABC/Frank Ockenfels(LOS ANGELES) — 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 that she is bisexual and admitted that she’s been holding onto that secret for over 30 years.

“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 revealed.  “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 that she was a proud tomboy.

“I was always very male-oriented in the things I did,” Baskin remarked. “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 and attested her contempt for him isn’t related to his or her sexual orientation.

“This man is just a deviant in the way he treats human life and animal life,” she noted.  “I think he’s an embarrassment to the human community.”

Later in the interview, Baskin revealed that 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.”

Despite that Baskin says she remains committed to saving wild tigers because they are facing extinction.

By Megan Stone
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