It took time and many trials for them to become the strong bounty hunter couple despite loving each other for years. But just before their dreamy Hawaiin wedding, both were struck by personal tragedies.
In his first interview since his beloved Beth passed away, Dog tearfully spoke about how he can't believe that she was gone, and about how much he misses her. So great was their love for each other that he admitted to keeping her ashes by his bedside because that's how hard it was for him to let go of her.
Beth and Duane "Dog" Chapman were married for 13 years but had known each other long before that. Their relationship had been simmering for decades before they chose to get married. They fought their attraction for each other for a long time before finally realizing that they couldn't anymore. However, they had to overcome many challenges and personal tragedies before they could come together.
When they met initially, they didn't commit to each other right away. Both had been through bad marriages and difficult pasts. Dog was thrice-married, and in 1991, Beth had married Dog's childhood best friend, Keith Barmore, and they had a daughter, Cecily, together. This had broken Dog's heart entirely.
"When I heard they got married, I got physically sick," he wrote in his book You Can Run But You Can’t Hide. "Friends told me he was abusing her something awful," according to Entertainment Online. It was only in 1995 that they got serious about each other and married in 1996. The lead in the bounty hunting pair wanted to give Cecily a proper family and welcomed her into the family by adopting her. She remained close with her mom and siblings since then.
But even after traversing through their difficult pasts, when they finally decided to come together, they lost loved ones close to them.
Two months before Beth was going to walk down the aisle in 2006 her father, who she considered her "best friend", Garry Smith, died. It devastated her but she has always been a strong woman. She found a way to honor him by naming her youngest son after him. Even as they recovered from this pain, a fresh wound was inflicted on them by fate.
The night before they had a fairytale wedding in Hawaii, Dog received horrific news. His 23-year-old daughter, Barbara, had been killed in an accident while she was in a stolen SUV in Alaska, according to SUN UK. Still, he went ahead with the wedding and broke the news to his family and friends at the reception. His daughter would have wanted him to go on with this dream wedding because of how happy it made him.
At the wedding, the couple shone in white. Dog eschewed a tuxedo and stuck to his own rugged style while Beth looked resplendent in a white gown. Their wedding was televised for their show.
He had waited for Beth a long time and she too found a best friend and lover in him. He saw her as a strong woman and let her accompany him in his bounty hunting act. Until then, she had been a victim, but with him she became a survivor. Together, they made a great team and have caught 6,000 criminals.
Dog has also been very protective of his family and Beth's and treated her children as his own. Beth's first child Dominic had been taken away by the state since she was a teen mom but Dog tracked him down and adopted him, according to Heavy.com. He also took in Barbara's son, who had gone to live with his father, Travis Mimms. Dog's grandson was being abused by his father and he couldn't take it and chose to raise the child instead.
Despite their tumultuous past, they made it through all of that only to be beaten by fate again. Beth passed away after fighting cancer for years on June 26 this year. The Chapman patriarch has been dealing with grief even as work has been grabbing his attention. He has broken down many times but his family is supporting him now.
References:
https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/06/dog-beth-chapman-children-stepkids-family/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/9363542/beth-chapman-tamed-dog-the-bounty-hunter/
