Tonia Haddix’s ardour for chimpanzees is the topic of Max’s Chimp Loopy docuseries, however she doesn’t really feel it’s correct.
“So far as total, the documentary, I simply really feel like that it’s actually cheeky and fairly scripted and undoubtedly not correct,” she instructed Australian radio’s “Carrie and Tommy Present” in a Thursday, August 29, interview.
Within the documentary — the primary episode was launched earlier this week — Haddix refers to herself because the “Dolly Parton of chimps,” since she has claimed to personal no less than seven monkeys in her lifetime. Certainly one of her pet chimps was Tonka, finest identified for Hollywood roles in Brendan Fraser’s George of the Jungle and Alan Cumming’s Buddy.
“Tonka and I simply discovered one another,” Haddix gushed in Chimp Loopy. “It was meant to be. It was simply pure. And Tonka beloved me as a lot as I beloved Tonka.”
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Cumming, 59, additionally appeared within the doc after costarring with the animal within the 1997 movie.
“Folks fall in love with these chimps, and you’ll’t tame wild issues,” the Scottish actor mentioned in a trailer. “If you’re in love, your mind is uncontrolled. There’s chemical compounds and hormones and issues occurring to you that makes you irrational.”
Haddix’s possession of Tonka quickly sparked controversy with PETA, which tried to rescue the mammal. PETA sued the Missouri Primate Basis, the place Haddix stored her pets, in 2017 over its circumstances. Haddix was named within the lawsuit for serving to the group.
“I stepped up and was prepared to return on the market and supply that care and supply the monetary assist to those chimpanzees in order that they may stay on the solely house that they know,” Haddix instructed a neighborhood Fox affiliate on the time.
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Haddix and PETA reached an settlement in 2020 that she might retain possession of the chimps, together with Tonka, as long as she upgraded the Missouri Primate Basis facility. She didn’t meet the circumstances and a choose held her in contempt of court docket. All seven of her chimps have been ordered to be transferred out of Haddix’s care.
Haddix then claimed in 2021 that Tonka died in a bid to keep away from handing it over to the nonprofit. She was later ordered to pay PETA $225,000 in authorized charges for faking Tonka’s demise. All the chimps have been remanded to the Heart for Nice Apes in Florida. The subsequent yr, Tonka was transferred to the state’s Save the Chimp sanctuary.
After filming the doc, Haddix instructed Inside Version in 2022 that she believes that the Chimp Loopy documentarians needed to create extra drama and despatched the nameless tip that led U.S. Marshals to swarm her home and discover Tonka alive in her basement.
“They needed a powerful ending to their story in order that they may get that $60 million off of that documentary,” she claimed. “They lied to me from the get-go.”
Haddix now works as an unique animal dealer in Dawn Seashore, Missouri, the place she lives with husband Jerry Aswegan, who owns a cellular petting zoo. (Haddix married Aswegan in 2021, one yr after the demise of her late first husband, Gary.)
Haddix can also be mom to grownup youngsters Justin and Erica, as soon as claiming that she beloved the chimps greater than her son and daughter.
“I’ve by no means seen her that captivated with something in my complete life. Ever,” Justin quipped within the documentary. “And that features her personal son.”
Following the discharge of Chimp Loopy, Haddix instructed Australia’s “Carrie and Tommy Present” that she felt misunderstood. As for her actions, she mentioned, “I undoubtedly have regrets. … At the moment I used to be simply determined and I didn’t know what else to do, to be sincere with you. It wasn’t thought out.”
She additionally claimed {that a} chimp assault portrayed within the documentary was not actual. “I can self-assure you that I’ve by no means been injured by a chimpanzee. Ever.” She declined to elucidate how she was injured, including, “I simply really feel like that complete state of affairs was scripted.”
Chimp Loopy is now streaming on Max.