Carole Baskin has shared her thoughts on the family of her late husband’s recent appeal advert, which aired during her debut appearance on Dancing With The Stars.
The Tiger King star married Don Lewis in 1991, and he went missing six years later.
He was eventually declared legally dead in 2002, with Carole repeatedly denying claims that she was involved in his disappearance and death.
Carole is currently appearing on the US version of Strictly Come Dancing, and during an ad break in the first episode on Monday night, Don’s family put together an advert appealing for anyone with information on his death to come forward.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the big cat enthusiast stated that she had not seen the advert, branding it a “huge publicity stunt”.
“I am not at all surprised,” she explained. “It’s just been a huge publicity stunt on their part so what more could they possibly do than that?”
Turning her attention to her detractors online, Carole added: “Spending time worrying about what I’m doing is probably not a really good use of your time. I’m not worried about what people say because even when they’re saying things that [are] negative, it’s keeping the conversation out there [about big cats] in the public eye.
“As long as I can keep that conversation out there, I can keep the cats in the spotlight and that’s my goal.”
In Don’s family’s advert, his three grown-up daughters were seen appealing for information, after which a family lawyer said: “Don Lewis mysteriously disappeared in 1997. His family deserves answers; they deserve justice. Do you know who did this or if Carole Baskin was involved?”
A reward of $100,000 (£77,800) has also been offered.
She previously told Metro: “Someone (a reporter I won’t name) made sure that I knew about it 10 minutes before going out on the dance floor tonight and you can see that it did not keep me from bringing the best performance of my two weeks of learning.”
Carole is one of 15 famous faces competing on the current season of Dancing With The Stars, with rapper Nelly, Desperate Housewives star Jesse Metcalfe, Selling Sunset’s Chrishell Stause and Cheer coach Monica Aldama also among the contestants.
For her first routine of the new run, Carole and partner Pasha Pashkov performed a Paso Doble to Eye Of The Tiger (obviously), but came in at the bottom of the leaderboard with just 11 points.
