Beth Chapman, wife of Dog the Bounty Hunter, has died following a battle with cancer.
Dog – real name Duane Chapman – confirmed the news of his wife’s passing on Wednesday, tweeting: ‘It’s 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain.
‘Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side.’
Beth, 51, was admitted to the intensive care unit at the Queen’s Medical Center in Hawaii on Saturday, with Dog saying that he and his family were ‘humbly [asking] everyone to please pray for Beth’.
Her last tweet was on 22 June, when she playfully made fun of her husband for mowing the lawn, writing: ‘And that’s the fourth time this week he’s mowed the lawn.
‘What do you think? Does the man have something on his mind or he just forgot how many times he’s mowed the lawn #AskingForAFriend.’
In the wake of her death, here’s a look back at Beth’s and Dog’s complicated but ultimately enduring romance…
How did Beth Chapman and Dog the Bounty Hunter meet?
Dog and Beth’s love story is something even the most genius screenwriters probably couldn’t conjure up.
It involves murder, affairs and many kids, but at the heart of it all was their absolute devotion for one another, which ultimately kept bringing them back together.
The pair met in 1986 at a local police station in Denver after Beth was arrested for shoplifting.
She was 19 at the time and Dog, aged 34.
After a few years of an explosive relationship, that included fiery arguments, the couple split and Beth went on to marry Dog’s childhood best friend Keith Barmore, with whom she went on to have a daughter, Cecily.
Dog wasn’t exactly thrilled by the marriage and wrote in his 2008 book You Can Run But You Can’t Hide: ‘When I heard they got married, I got physically sick. Friends told me he was abusing her something awful.’
He described Keith as a ‘thief with a heroin habit’ and heard he was ‘abusing her something awful’.
Eventually, Beth and Keith split and she continued dating Dog on and off in the coming years despite his other marriages.
When did Beth Chapman and Dog the Bounty Hunter marry?
But in 2006, they finally made it official and married in 2006.
At this point, Beth was Dog’s fifth wife following his previous marriages to La Fonda Sue Honeycutt, Anne Tengell, Lyssa Rae Brittain and Tawny Marie.
However, what was supposed to be a joyous wedding ceremony in Hawaii was mired by tragedy.
The day before the wedding, Dog’s eldest daughter Barbara Katie, from his marriage to third wife Lyssa, died at the age of 23 in a car accident in Alaska.
Remarkably, Beth and Dog still went ahead with the wedding ceremony and informed their guests of Barbara’s death at the reception.
Beth Chapman and Dog the Bounty Hunter’s children
In total, Dog has 12 children while Beth had two from previous relationships before she married the TV star.
Beth’s son Dominic, whom she gave birth to aged 17, was taken into state custody before she met Dog.
In 2011, Beth and Dog were awarded temporary custody of Barbara’s nine-year-old son, who had been in the care of his father, after reports that the child was being physically abused.
Together, the couple have two children, Bonnie and Garry, while Beth is also mum to Cecily, the latter from her marriage to her first husband, a friend from high school.
Dog’s eldest child Christopher Michael Hecht was born of a relationship with Debbie White, while he had two sons, Duane Lee and Leland with La Fonda.
The former bail bondsman had three children, Zebediah, Wesley, and JR ‘James’, with Anne; Zebediah died shortly after birth. He is also father to Barbara, Tucker and Lyssa ‘Baby Lyssa’ Rae from his marriage to Lyssa – Barbara was killed in a car crash the day before her father married Beth.
Beth Chapman’s cancer diagnosis
Despite all the obstacles, Beth and Dog always stood by each other.
In one episode of Dog the Bounty Hunter, Beth told the camera of their complex relationship: ‘My husband is a sweet personality. The problem is when that Dog guy comes around. He’s nasty, he’s aggressive. He doesn’t have a wife.’
Dog replied: ‘How do you fight with a woman? We always lose. … This is just a high-energy job, and once in a while, there’ll be disagreements. But we’re family, and that’s what counts.’
In September 2017, Beth revealed publicly that she had been diagnosed with stage two cancer.
The couple bravely sat down to discuss Beth’s ordeal in a two-hour special with A&E called Dog and Beth: Fight Of Their Lives.
Around the time the special aired, Dog told Daily Mail TV: ‘My baby has cancer and she is fighting like hell. I have cried a lot over this because Beth is my everything.
‘Despite all of the obstacles I have overcome, this is by far the biggest test of my life and mark my words, I will not let her die. She is my rock and my bodyguard. I will do everything I can to keep her here.’
Dog changed his lifestyle after Beth’s diagnosis and even quit smoking.
In an interview two years before she died, Beth was asked if she thought Dog would ‘fall apart without her’, she replied honestly: ‘Yes.’
Fortunately, it looks like Dog has the support of his and Beth’s children as he adjusts to life without his true love.
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MORE: Dog The Bounty Hunter hopes there is a God ‘so he can see Beth Chapman again’
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