Mike Tyson Explains Why He Had To Give Up His Tiger Kenya

Mike Tyson is known for many things - some good, some... not so good. But something he's arguably most notorious for is his love for exotic pets, having famously owned several tigers.

Tyson, who now runs a cannabis farm, had decided to buy one of said tigers while he was in prison, having been convicted of rape in 1992.

Having owned a white tiger called Kenya for 16 years, he was eventually forced to give her up - and apparently there were a few reasons behind it.

Speaking to GQ Sports a little earlier this year, 53-year-old Tyson said: "I did have a pet tiger, her name was Kenya and she was around 550 pounds.

"I had a great affection for her; I kept her, I slept with her, I kept her in my room.

"She stayed with me I had her about 16 years.

"But she got too old and I had to get rid of her when her eyes and her head got bad.

"Oh and she ripped somebody's arm off."

CBS

Of course, it sounds like Tyson may have been joking, but it's kind of hard to say with him.

Earlier this year, Tyson also explained how he came to start acquiring such exotic animals when he appeared on Joe Rogan's hugely popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.

Comedian Tom Segura, who also joined Rogan for the podcast, asked Tyson what had made him think about getting a tiger.

Tyson replied: "I'm in prison at the time. So I'm in prison, I'm talking to my car dealer at the time and he has some cars that belong to a [mutual friend], and he's discussing 'If he doesn't pay for these cars, I'm going to sell these cars to somebody and get some horses'."

Tyson continued: "I said 'What, you can get horses? And trade horses in for cars?' Because I had a lot of cars, I'd probably get some horses too.

"And he said 'Yeah man, you can get cougars, lions, tigers...' I said 'You do?! Can you get me some tigers?'.

"The guy said 'Imagine how cool that would be?' - because I had a bunch of fancy cars - 'Imagine that man, you'd be in an Aston Martin or a Ferrari. You'd have a tiger right next to you, man. That'd be so awesome'.

"And I'm a young guy. I'm saying to myself 'Wow, that would be cool. Get me some cubs, man'."

Topics: Mike Tyson, Entertainment, Celebrity, Animals

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

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