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'Dog the Bounty Hunter' reveals how he felt after wife Beth Chapman passed away: "I couldn't stop..."

Chapman recalled how his longtime friend helped him heal through the period of intense grief in his life. 

Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of suicide that some readers may find distressing.

'Dog the Bounty Hunter' star Duane Chapman was an emotional wreck after his wife of 13 years, Beth Chapman tragically passed away in June 2019. Beth was diagnosed with stage II throat cancer in 2017. When she was placed in a medically induced coma in Honolulu before her passing, Duane struggled. During his appearance on The Dr. Oz Show in 2020, he recalled harboring suicidal thoughts and how his longtime friend and personal assistant, Moon Angell, helped him heal through the period of intense grief. 

“I couldn’t stop crying,” he remembered. “I am Apache, I wasn’t going to commit suicide with a gun or something. I was going to take a lot of pills because she left— Beth left all her big pills there. So I thought, I just need one drink of water,” he told the host Dr. Mehmet Oz. “You were going to commit suicide?” Oz asked surprised. “Oh, yeah,” Duane confessed, as he thanked Angell for pulling him 'out of the dark hole'. “Well, she’s pretty rough, this one,” he said. 

Angell also revealed that she had encouraged Duane to focus on his work. “I say...this is the way we are going to do it. He needs to get going. We need to get back on the show and get him busy again.” She went on to describe their relationship as 'intimate.' She said, “It has to be intimate...Because there’s a lot of powerful things going on with Dog.”

Duane and Angell in fact sparked dating rumors after Beth's death given this apparent closeness. Dog even jokingly proposed to his assistant on the show. He said, “I am a lot happier with her around. Moon Angell, will you marry me?” However, a family insider revealed then that Angell was a close family friend and not involved in a romantic affair with Duane. 

“Since Beth’s death, she has stepped in to help Dog in his time of need. There will never be another Beth,” the source said. The Hollywood assistant was very close to Beth. She once posted a lengthy heartfelt tribute on Instagram, reflecting on their unbreakable bond. As per People magazine, Angell has been managing 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' star's finances, contracts, and child care for more than two decades. 

In a different tribute post, Angell referred to Beth as 'Lil Sis' as she recounted happy memories of laughing till their stomachs hurt. "I will never forget being part of This day...remember what I told you B? Angelic...you looked sooooo Angelic!!!!" she stated. Duane is now married to Francie Frane. The couple tied the knot in September 2021.