CLAYTON — A Missouri woman who starred in the HBO documentary series “Chimp Crazy†testified Tuesday that she does not have the money or assets to pay nearly $225,000 in attorney’s fees to an animal rights group that sued her for mistreating several chimpanzees.
Tonia Haddix, 56, took the stand for about 90 minutes Tuesday in shackles and a gray striped prison jumper. She wore bright pink lipstick and dark eye makeup, but she was without her signature curly blonde wig.
A lawyer representing the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals peppered her with questions about her assets, business dealings, incomes and account balances — something attorneys had tried to do for two years through subpoenas and depositions.
For the most part, Haddix on Tuesday said she could not provide specific answers — even when it came to her previous marriages.
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“So how many times have you been married altogether?†asked attorney Michael Campbell.
“Oh, I don’t even know, because I was married to Terry twice,†she said after listing several married surnames. “Let me say ... like four or five times.â€

Attorney Michael A. Campbell questions Tonia Haddix on the stand during her contempt of court hearing in a St. Louis County courtroom on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. PETA has been trying for years to garnish her wages and assets to get her to pay a $275,000 judgment. She hadn't responded, so a judge held her and her husband in contempt.
She went on to say three different bank accounts she has open had less than $10 each in them. Her account for the zoo she runs with her husband near Lake of the Ozarks, at its highest amount in the last year, “might have been around $40,000-50,000,†she said. And, she said, the feds discovered $1,000 cash in her sock drawer in a July raid on her home. They let her keep it.
Tuesday’s hearing is the latest in a years-long legal saga between Haddix and PETA.
The organization sued Haddix in 2016, saying Haddix was keeping several chimps in “confined in cramped, virtually barren enclosures†at the now-defunct Missouri Primate Foundation facility.
Among those chimpanzees was a primate named Tonka, who appeared in the 1997 movies “Buddy†and “George of the Jungle.â€
In 2020, Haddix signed a consent decree agreeing to send four of the chimps to the Center for Great Apes sanctuary in Florida. The order allowed her to keep three chimps, including Tonka.
But Haddix failed to comply with the requirements of the consent decree, PETA said, and a year later Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies and U.S. Marshals oversaw the removal of the remaining chimps from the Festus facility. Haddix claimed that Tonka was no longer there because he had died of congestive heart failure, and her husband signed a court affidavit saying he cremated the body.
In 2022, PETA found through a recorded phone call between Haddix and a documentary filmmaker that Tonka was alive and living in her basement. She said her veterinarian planned to evaluate the chimp’s health and possibly euthanize him.

Tonka the chimpanzee was removed June 5, 2022, from a basement cage in the home of Tonia Haddix of Sunrise Beach, Mo.
That year, PETA removed him from a cage in the basement of her home in Sunrise Beach, Missouri, near the Lake of the Ozarks.
In March 2023, a federal judge ordered Haddix to pay nearly $225,000 in attorney’s fees.
She was eventually charged criminally in the matter and in March pleaded guilty to three felony charges, including lying to a court and obstruction of justice.
In July, investigators found another chimp locked up in the basement of her home in Sunrise Beach in violation of court orders, documents in the case said. She was arrested, and her bond revoked.
She was sentenced earlier this month to 46 months in prison and three years of supervised release. The judge in that case also ordered that she pay the $225,000 civil judgement.
On Tuesday, Haddix described her business as an exotic animal broker for people and zoos across the country.
“I’ve been a very successful broker, probably one of the most successful brokers in the exotic world,†she said. “And so I have a lot of contacts, and I have a lot of people that trust me, you know, to take care of their animals.â€
She estimated that she brought in a gross revenue of $125,000 to $200,000 as a broker.
Brokers, she said, usually earn about 10% of their sales but she sometimes earned up to 25% because she could get good deals on animals.
During the hearing, Haddix often said she didn’t have the answer to questions like what her highest-valued asset was.
At one point she said she had recently suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with white matter disease, an umbrella term for conditions that can cause symptoms like memory problems, balance issues, and cognitive decline.
PETA has been able to garnish about $5,000 from Haddix since the $224,000 judgement was issued, her lawyers told reporters Tuesday.
Judge Brian May removed a $100-a-day contempt fine at the end of Tuesday’s hearing. He also issued an order instructing Haddix to provide all subpoenaed documents by Sept. 26.

Tonia Haddix in the HBO docuseries “Chimp Crazy.â€