Tonia Haddix’s passion for chimpanzees is the subject of Max’s Chimp Crazy docuseries, but she doesn’t feel it is accurate.
“As far as overall, the documentary, I just feel like that it’s really cheeky and pretty scripted and definitely not accurate,” she told Australian radio’s “Carrie and Tommy Show” in a Thursday, August 29, interview.
In the documentary — the first episode was released earlier this week — Haddix refers to herself as the “Dolly Parton of chimps,” since she has claimed to own at least seven monkeys in her lifetime. One of her pet chimps was Tonka, best known for Hollywood roles in Brendan Fraser’s George of the Jungle and Alan Cumming’s Buddy.
“Tonka and I just found each other,” Haddix gushed in Chimp Crazy. “It was meant to be. It was just natural. And Tonka loved me as much as I loved Tonka.”
Cumming, 59, also appeared in the doc after costarring with the animal in the 1997 film.
“People fall in love with these chimps, and you can’t tame wild things,” the Scottish actor said in a trailer. “When you’re in love, your brain is out of control. There’s chemicals and hormones and things happening to you that makes you irrational.”
Haddix’s ownership of Tonka soon sparked controversy with PETA, which tried to rescue the mammal. PETA sued the Missouri Primate Foundation, where Haddix kept her pets, in 2017 over its conditions. Haddix was named in the lawsuit for helping the organization.
“I stepped up and was willing to come out there and provide that care and provide the financial support to these chimpanzees so that they could remain at the only home that they know,” Haddix told a local Fox affiliate at the time.
Haddix and PETA reached an agreement in 2020 that she could retain ownership of the chimps, including Tonka, so long as she upgraded the Missouri Primate Foundation facility. She did not meet the conditions and a judge held her in contempt of court. All seven of her chimps were ordered to be transferred out of Haddix’s care.
Haddix then claimed in 2021 that Tonka died in a bid to avoid handing it over to the nonprofit. She was later ordered to pay PETA $225,000 in legal fees for faking Tonka’s death. All of the chimps were remanded to the Center for Great Apes in Florida. The next year, Tonka was transferred to the state’s Save the Chimp sanctuary.
After filming the doc, Haddix told Inside Edition in 2022 that she believes that the Chimp Crazy documentarians wanted to create more drama and sent the anonymous tip that led U.S. Marshals to swarm her house and find Tonka alive in her basement.
“They wanted a magnificent ending to their story so that they could get that $60 million off of that documentary,” she claimed. “They lied to me from the get-go.”
Haddix now works as an exotic animal broker in Sunrise Beach, Missouri, where she lives with husband Jerry Aswegan, who owns a mobile petting zoo. (Haddix married Aswegan in 2021, one year after the death of her late first husband, Gary.)
Haddix is also mother to adult children Justin and Erica, once claiming that she loved the chimps more than her son and daughter.
“I’ve never seen her that passionate about anything in my entire life. Ever,” Justin quipped in the documentary. “And that includes her own son.”
Following the release of Chimp Crazy, Haddix told Australia’s “Carrie and Tommy Show” that she felt misunderstood. As for her actions, she said, “I definitely have regrets. … At that time I was just desperate and I didn’t know what else to do, to be honest with you. It wasn’t thought out.”
She also claimed that a chimp attack portrayed in the documentary was not real. “I can self-assure you that I’ve never been injured by a chimpanzee. Ever.” She declined to explain how she was injured, adding, “I just feel like that whole situation was scripted.”
Chimp Crazy is now streaming on Max.
