Settled in a plush, tan chair in the center of her living room, family portraits behind her and a stuffed tiger to her right, Barbara Fisher told her story.

The Ames woman played a key role in the popular Netflix documentary "Tiger King," which focuses on the feud between G.W. Zoo owner Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, and Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin. Fisher's episode revolves around the man Maldonado-Passage called his mentor — Myrtle Beach Safari owner Mahamayavi Bhagavan "Doc" Antle.

From 1999 to 2007, Fisher was Antle's apprentice. His wildlife preserve houses exotic animals such as monkeys, tigers and an elephant.

Fisher appeared in the episode "Cult of Personality." The episode is the second of seven and examines the motivations and personalities of the people who work on Maldonado-Passage, Antle and Baskin's properties.

Fisher said the experience of sharing her story was nerve-wracking, but she was determined to give her perspective. She was interviewed in late 2018, and at that point, had no idea Netflix would pick up the documentary and that it would become a quarantine-time obsession across the globe.

"I was thinking it would be an interesting little documentary, and (I was) hoping I’d get a chance to see a screening of it eventually," she said.

On her chair during the series, Fisher alternates between holding a photo book containing memories of her time on the safari — photos of her interacting with tigers — and serving as a sleeping place for her English setter, Taran.

The episode heavily relies on Fisher recounting her time with Antle, and a segment of the episode is devoted to describing how people came to work for Antle and why they stayed.

Fisher left to work with Antle when she was just 19. She says in the episode that when she came across the Safari's website, "it sounded like a utopia." She thought she was going to train animals using the principals of yoga, as the website stated.

She ended up staying in what she described as cockroach-infested "terrible horse stalls basically, like with sliding doors with bars on them."

Antle works on his reserve with several romantic partners. In the episode, he says the women began working on his reserve as apprentices, some when they were teenagers, and stayed for decades.

Fisher said women were pressured into sexual relationships with Antle, and she thought about becoming involved with him because those who did were treated better.

"He had four women who were sleeping with him when I was there, and each started out as his apprentice," she said in an email to the Register. "That might not fully fit the “sex cult” moniker that Twitter has bestowed on Doc’s place, but it is certainly problematic and predatory in my opinion."

She said Antle controlled almost every aspect of his apprentices' lives. He chose their outfits, decided what they could eat and even pressured Fisher to get breast implants. She did, she said, because she was too scared to say no, and she was able to rest for a few days after. She said they typically worked for hours without a break for just over $100 each week.

"I was like, I'll do anything to just rest," she says in the documentary.

Since the series aired, Baskin and Antle have said they disagree with how they were portrayed. Fisher said she thought the series showed the subjects as they presented themselves.

After she left Myrtle Beach Safari, Fisher met her husband. She is now married with three kids, two dogs and a cat, and is a preschool teacher. She's also studying early childhood education at Iowa State University.

Meanwhile, Maldonado-Passage is currently serving a 22-year sentence after he was convicted of plotting a murder-for-hire against Baskin and several crimes regarding animal abuse and selling animals across state lines. Fans on social media have started a "Free Joe" movement, which Fisher said she doesn't understand.

"I don’t know how they managed to come to that conclusion after watching that documentary," she said.

She's also been receiving a lot of attention, not all of it welcome.

"It seems that every person I have ever met is being contacted by others to see if they know me," she said. "It is all very weird."

When she was outside with her children Tuesday, a man slowed down in his car while he was passing by her house. At first, she didn't know what he was doing. She looked around to see "if there was a cool bird or something." Then she realized he was taking a picture of them.

"That was downright creepy," she said.

She hopes to turn the attention to the animals and people who are "caught up in this weird, dangerous, essentially unregulated world of privately owned big cats." A bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives early last year called the Big Cat Public Safety Act. The act restricts contact between the public and big cats and declares it illegal to breed or possess prohibited wildlife species like big cats.

"If everyone decides to turn their attention to getting that passed, I think that would make a big, positive difference," she said.

Sarah LeBlanc covers trending news for the Register. Reach her at 515-284-8161 or sleblanc@registermedia.com.

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