Dog the Bounty Hunter says late wife Beth Chapman ‘haunted me for a bit’ when Francie Frane relationship began
Dog the Bounty Hunter, whose real name is Duane Chapman, has shared that his late wife “haunted” him “for a bit” after he developed a connection with new fiancée Francie Frane. He had earlier told ET that he won't marry again and that “there will never be another Mrs. Dog”. He also mentioned in a September 2019 interview about how he and Beth used to discuss him moving on romantically and Beth used to joke she would haunt him if another woman entered his life.
Speaking with the publication, Dog recently said, “She haunted me for a bit. I would never [have] thought [there would] be another Mrs. Dog, but by God, there will be a final Mrs. Chapman.”
Duane and Beth were married for 13 years before she died of throat and lung cancer in June 2019. The pair had four kids together. However, the 67-year-old found love with Frane, who also lost her spouse six months before Beth’s death. The two got to know each other when Duane called Frane's husband, Bob, who used to do yardwork for the TV personality. But since Bob was dead by the time, his widow picked up the phone. That was when they found out that both of them were devastated after losing their respective partners.
Recalling the time, Frane -- a former rancher and hunter -- said, “As soon as I hung up the phone, I called my girlfriend and was like, ‘Are you sitting down right now because you're not going to believe who I just talked to.' She was screaming, ‘I told you!’” Shortly after that, Duane asked her out and she responded, “Yeah, if you go to church.”
“We understood the pain that the other one was feeling and [in] those tough days and moments, we helped each other stand up. We could cry with each other and talk about what we were feeling. We were able to walk alongside each other through the pain and heartbreak and it brought us together in this amazing way,” Frane added.
In May, it was reported that Duane and Frane got engaged and now the pair are planning their “huge” wedding. But both of them said though they have found love in each other, they still grieve the loss of their loved ones. “We honor those dates and we don't feel guilty, but it's kind of strange. But we're in love and I say all the time, ‘Beth, I'm glad you provided me with Francie because that wasn't on my list,’” Duane told the outlet. Adding further, Frane said, “We're both still grieving. We're never going to leave Bob and Beth behind [or] forget about them. They'll always be a part of us. We thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives with them and that's not what happened and we were dealt a really hard hand. Both of us had a decision to make – are we going to rise up from the ashes and get back to life and what Beth and Bob would have wanted from us?”
The couple also addressed the concerns of some fans who were surprised to know that Duane moved on from his wife of years so soon. He said he was “dying of a broken heart” after Beth was gone. Frane also understood why his fans are doubtful about their relationship. She said: “Duane and Beth built a legacy with the shows and she has – in her own right, outside of Duane – thousands of fans [who] genuinely love her. So, I do understand the, ‘How could you do this so quickly?’ We didn't expect this either. My son thought I was going to run off and be a missionary in Africa just not to deal with life without Bob anymore. Neither one of us were expecting what happened, but God brought us together and how it fell into place was a miracle.”
In June, MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) reported how Duane remembered his late wife, who died at the age of 51, in a beautiful way on her first death anniversary. He and his family honored Beth by hosting a sunrise hike at the Hanauma Bay Ridge trail in Hawaii on June 26. Beth's daughter Cecily Chapman also shared pictures of the day on her Instagram page by writing: “#ForTheLoveofBeth 1 Year sunrise Hike.”