Tonia Haddix says she never wanted the limelight.
Small monkeys screech in the background as the exotic animal broker tells Rolling Stone that she’s frustrated by the whole media circus that has descended upon her life after being the “unwitting” star of HBO’s latest docuseries Chimp Crazy.
“I don’t want this crap, I just want to be normal,” Haddix says. When reminded that most wouldn’t consider running a small petting zoo, bottle-feeding capuchin monkeys and housing baby wallabies and a host of other animals typical, Haddix laughs. “That’s my normal,” she says.
As Haddix tells it, she believed that she was participating in a small production advocating for the private ownership of exotic animals. Instead, the series wound up focusing on Haddix’s intense relationship with her movie-star pet chimpanzee Tonka and her ensuing battle against PETA after she faked the ape’s death.
The kicker comes when Haddix discovers that the documentary crew following her for the past year — and knew Tonka was alive and living in Haddix’s basement — not only was being secretly puppeteered by Tiger King director Eric Goode, but his team had turned her in to PETA, which resulted in Tonka being taken away in 2022.
The four-episode series, whose finale aired Sunday night, is poised to be HBO’s most-watched documentary in years. Attorneys for PETA have also been tuned in, filing a fresh motion for a judge to consider bringing perjury and obstruction charges against Haddix, citing specific scenes where Haddix openly lies to the court about Tonka. (She faces five years in prison if charged and convicted.)
Haddix has seen the entire docuseries and says she’s been staying away from social media because people have been “brutal.” (She’s quick to clarify that she hasn’t been back to the lip filler technician who wore a backwards baseball cap to plump up her pout.) The mother-of-two isn’t too pleased with how she’s depicted, upset that the documentary aired in the first place. “If they think I like it, they’re crazy,” she says. “I would love to make some new legislation happen so that Eric Goode can never, ever destroy somebody else’s life again without their knowledge.”
In her first interview since the finale — where Haddix shockingly admits that she had been recently mauled by a friend’s chimp — Haddix discusses what she wishes she did differently, her regret about hysterically crying to a judge about Tonka’s death and presents a new challenge to PETA.
Chimp Crazy is poised to be HBO’s most-watched documentary in years. How has the attention and reaction to it been for you?
It’s been very overwhelming, first of all. Secondly, [there’s] very brutal people out there. I don’t get on social media because I don’t care to see the stuff [people are saying about me].
When we spoke in 2022, you were pretty upset and stunned that Dwayne [Cunningham] — who you thought of as a friend — was really working as a proxy director for Eric Goode, who you swore you wanted nothing to do with. Why did you continue filming with Eric and Dwayne once you realised they lied to you and turned you in to PETA?
They made a lot of promises to me, like me getting to see my boy. They promised I’d get a visit with him, and they promised to offset some of the legal fees that I have because they caused them. [But] I didn’t trust them. After I spoke to you that day the US Marshals hit my house, I knew for a fact they were out to get a huge explosive ending so that it could be another Tiger King.
I decided I had two choices after they contacted me several months later and I was not as angry: I had to beat them or join them. They promised me they would make it out to be a love story, or it could be trash, and I didn’t want it to be trash. I didn’t have a choice. I wanted it to be about Tonka and the reality of how much I gave up trying to save him. That’s one reason. And the other, they dangled a bunch of carrots that I, at that point, was desperate for.
Have they made good on those promises?
Well, you haven’t seen me get to see Tonka.
Do you feel like the documentary was a fair depiction of you, your life and what you went through with Tonka and PETA?
No, not at all. I call it cheeky at best. They used footage to meet their narrative. They could have used me cleaning all day, feeding those chimps fresh fruit and vegetables, rather than the Happy Meals they purchased the day before the chimps left. There could have been so much more that would have shown depth and what it really cost me. I’m not talking finances. I’m talking giving myself up for those kids, so that people could see what it’s like to own those guys, instead of making it so crazy.
Looking back, do you regret filming with Dwayne?
One hundred percent. They lied to me, blatantly lied. I stood up in a hotel room when somebody mentioned a “Eric.” I said, “Wait, wait, wait, you’re not talking to Eric Goode, right? We discussed this and I don’t want anything to do with Eric Goode.” And they said, “No, it’s not. It’s just one of our silent investors.” That’s how naive and stupid I was. [If I had known], I 100% guarantee that the whole documentary never would have happened.
One of the most jaw-dropping scenes from the series is when you are crying to a judge about how Tonka died, then minutes later you lead the crew down to your basement to celebrate winning the hearing with Tonka. Why the theatrics? Why did you lie like that?
It wasn’t theatrics. They clipped that stuff together. Nobody knows what really transpired. What really transpired is that [former PETA attorney] Jared Goodman beat me up verbally on that hearing. They didn’t show you that. They only put together what they want to make it look like that. But I can tell you right now, it didn’t happen the way that they portrayed it.
But you were crying to the judge, talking about how Tonka died, and Tonka was sitting below you.
I had already been crying. Even though I knew Tonka was not dead, just knowing that I could lose Tonka and that this whole [hearing] mounted on that, already was incentive for me to be upset.
You lied to a judge and could face perjury charges. Do you regret that incident?
For sure, that’s definitely not a proud moment. This was about feelings toward a chimpanzee. It’s not like I’m a con artist and I sit around dreaming up cons. I loved him so much; I was flying by the seat of my pants. I didn’t have a game plan, and I got caught up in it. I’ve said a hundred times I would like to be able to tell Judge Perry how sorry I am because I felt horrible.
Another moment that has prompted conversation on social media is that you’ve said Tonka is your everything, he is more important than your marriage, and you care more about Tonka than your own kids. Your son echoes that thought as well. How does that feel seeing and hearing back?
Well, it’s the truth. My kids know that even though Tonka and those other chimpanzees became very important to me, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my kids. Nothing I wouldn’t do for [my husband] Jerry. Nothing I wouldn’t do for just about anybody. If God put me in a position: You can have Tonka back, but you have to give up one of your kids. Could I do that? I don’t think so. I hope I would never have to be put in that position.
The underlying layer to the documentary is that private ownership of chimpanzees isn’t ethical. That once chimps hit adolescence, it is not safe for them to own — for both the owner’s safety and for the chimp’s wellbeing? Do you believe that’s true?
No, I don’t. I do think there’s only a select few that are capable of raising chimpanzees and doing it well and doing it for the benefit of the chimpanzee and the people.
In the finale, you make a startling admission that you had been recently mauled by a friend’s chimp. You had bite marks on your legs, your arm pulled from its socket, your hand was injured, and your ear was missing a chunk. You were having nightmares about it. There are so many stories of chimps hurting their owners or their owners’ friends. Now after this happened to you, why do you think people should be allowed chimps as pets? Why are you or Tonka an exception?
It wasn’t near as bad as they wanted to portray it. It could have been way worse. I made the wrong decision. It wasn’t the chimp’s problem; it was my problem. Would I get back in that cage? Yes, I would. Do I feel like Tonka would do that? No, I don’t. It’s just like pit bulls. Kids get attacked every day by pit bulls and end up with bad injuries and sometimes death. Do we assume all pit bulls to be the same?
How does it feel that [Tonka’s co-star in the movie Buddy] Alan Cumming and the documentary crew got to go see Tonka at Save the Chimps and you haven’t?
Well, that pissed me off. They told me that I would get to see him. I never would have continued filming with them. I had no reason to, except to save that documentary from being a crap show like Tiger King and for them not to make me out to be crazier than I am. [Although], I’m not saying I’m not eccentric and I don’t have a mouth on me because I believe in what I believe in.
Are you actually banned from the Save the Chimps premises?
To be honest with you, I don’t know. I tried to connect with them, and nobody answers the phone or returns phone calls. I’ve asked [former PETA attorney] Jared Goodman on four different occasions to be able to see him. Long story short, nobody cares.
Knowing that you could face criminal charges, that you owe PETA $240,000 and Tonka is at a sanctuary in Florida, would you go down this road all over again?
Yes, but I would do it quite differently. I wouldn’t get involved with a film crew. They’re three-quarters of my problem. Secondly, I would not have lied to a federal court judge. I just would have handled it all in a better way.
Do you think you’ll ever see Tonka again?
I hope so. But as time goes by, I don’t think so. I challenge [PETA and Save the Chimps] that if they’d allow me to go see Tonka, I’d ask if he wants to come home. They can bring all the media they want; I’m self-assured he would jump in that cage. It took 45 minutes of Tonka screaming to get him out of my house. But I guarantee it’d take me five minutes to get him back to my house. I pray every night that God will see fit to let me be able to take my challenge nationwide and let them eat crow.
From Rolling Stone US
