Tonia Haddixsays she never wanted the limelight.
I dont want this crap, I just want to be normal, Haddix says.
Thats my normal, she says.
Tonia Haddix in her Missouri home in 2022.Whitney Curtis for Rolling Stone
The four-episode series, whose finale aired Sunday night, is poised to beHBOs most-watched documentary in years.
(She faces five years in prison if charged and convicted.)
The mother-of-two isnt too pleased with how shes depicted, upset that the documentary aired in the first place.
If they think I like it, theyre crazy, she says.
Chimp Crazyis poised to be HBOs most watched documentary in years.
Secondly, [theres] very brutal people out there.
[But] I didnt trust them.
I didnt have a choice.
I call it cheeky at best.
They used footage to meet their narrative.
There could have been so much more that would have shown depth and what it really cost me.
Im not talking finances.
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, youre not talking to Eric Goode, right?
We discussed this and I dont want anything to do with Eric Goode.
And they said, No, its not.
Its just one of our silent investors.
Thats how naive and stupid I was.
[If I had known], I 100% guarantee that the whole documentary never would have happened.
Why did you lie like that?It wasnt 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 didnt show you that.
They only put together what they want to make it look like that.
But I can tell you right now, it didnt happen the way that they portrayed it.
You lied to a judge and could face perjury charges.
Do you regret that incident?For sure, thats definitely not a proud moment.
This was about feelings toward a chimpanzee.
Its not like Im 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 didnt have a game plan, and I got caught up in it.
Your son echoes that thought as well.
How does that feel seeing and hearing back?Well, its the truth.
Nothing I wouldnt do for [my husband] Jerry.
Nothing I wouldnt do for just about anybody.
Could I do that?
I dont 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 isnt ethical.
Do you believe thats true?No, I dont.
In the finale, you make a startling admission that you had been recently mauled by a friends chimp.
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 wasnt near as bad as they wanted to portray it.
It could have been way worse.
I made the wrong decision.
It wasnt the chimps 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 dont.
Its 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?
They told me that I would get to see him.
I never would have continued filming with them.
I wouldnt get involved with afilmcrew.
Theyre 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 youll ever see Tonka again?I hope so.
But as time goes by, I dont think so.
They can bring all the media they want; Im 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 itd take me five minutes to get him back to my house.
