NEW YORK — When alleged “Millionaire Madam” Anna Gristina gets out of jail, her husband said she will want to see her entire family — including her beloved pot-bellied pigs.
Kelvin Gorr, who has staunchly defended his wife despite the prostitution charge against her, said all but two of the family’s pigs have been handed off to “caretakers” since Gristina was arrested back in February.
"She's going to want to have the pigs back," Gorr told DNAinfo.com New York as he waited for the bus to drop his son off from school.
Gristina’s legal team recently negotiated her bail from its initial $2 million down to $250,000 bond or $125,000 cash. But Gristina has since rejected a bail package her lawyer put together, claiming she would rather raise the money on her own.
It is not clear how long that process will take.
Gristina, who has been accused of running a high-end prostitution ring worth $15 million, has publicly lamented her separation from her children, one of whom has a heart murmur. But pigs have also been a huge part of the family’s life at their sprawling two-story farmhouse in upstate Monroe, where they roamed the pens set up around the property.
When Gristina was arrested, she was in the process of coordinating the rescue of 59 pot-bellied pigs from Florida, according to Lana Hollenback, from the Tennessee-based Forgotten Angels Rescue & Education Center.
Hollenback said she had worked with Gristina on multiple rescues over the years but said Gristina had always kept mum about her private life.
"We knew she was a very private person with her business, but this was really a shock to us," Hollenback said back in March when she heard about the arrest. "We only saw the animal-loving side."
