Duane 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' Chapman opens up about wife Beth's final wishes, says he is a 'cry baby'
Devastated by the loss of his wife, Duane Lee 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' Chapman revealed Beth Chapman's final wishes before he says his final goodbye at her upcoming funeral. Beth lost her life after a hard-fought battle with cancer last month and it is difficult for the 'Dog's Most Wanted' star to cope with his regular routine without the love of his life.
After a long fight with stage II throat cancer diagnosis, Beth was rushed to Hawaii's Queen’s Medical Center on June 22, where she was placed in a medically induced coma. Four days later, on June 26, she breathed her last at the age of 51.
"I haven't gotten past the place where I'm [not] putting a pillow where she was and covering it up. And then I wake up in the middle of the night and I see her and it doesn't register that [it] ain't her. I'm still there," he said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
"I wake up to always touch her, especially when she was sick I'd have to wake up a few times when she stopped breathing. I couldn't hear it no more. And she's laying and I'm like, 'You are not dying like that. I will not let you die.' So I'm so used to that that I don't sleep solid anymore," he recalled.
Not only on his mind and psyche, but Beth's death has also taken a toll on Duane's body as he lost "17 pounds in two weeks". Disclosing how he struggles with food, Duane said, "I can't eat. Two bites, I'm full. I got to force feed myself like I force fed her."
His wife also helped him choose what to order from the menu and he hasn't gotten used to doing it without her. "I would go, 'What do I want today, honey?' and she would name two things," he explained. "I never ordered…I'm having a hard time ordering food. I've lost 17 pounds. Chewing ice helps, and I've lost 17 pounds in about two weeks."
Duane also confessed to going through a gamut of emotions and people around him trying to tell him to "man it up". He explained, "I am a cry baby. I blame it on my heritage. I can cry talking about crying. So I would be crying through the whole thing and I sob — I can't stop it. So I can’t do that. And decisions, I can't make them right now… So manning up would not get over it, but face it, take over it."
Duane also admitted that while he is not "suicidal", he is ready to "join Beth". "People would say I lived a long and great life, sometimes a hard life," he said, adding, "Well, of course. I said, 'You beat me to this'."
To help his lonesome soul, he is trying to connect with people. "I went through experiences to help others. The other day I met [a guy]. He goes, 'Dog, you know I love you. I'm sorry, I lost my wife six months ago', and I hugged him and I felt a connection like, boom, instantly brotherhood, right," he shared.
"So when you go through something and somebody else [goes through the same thing], there's something there. That's why I'm going through it, but I use that thing that's bad to help me help others."
Married in 2006, Duane and Beth had been dating on-and-off since meeting in 1986. She was Duane's fifth wife, after his previous marriages to La Fonda Sue Honeycutt, Anne Tengell, Lyssa Rae Brittain and Tawny Marie.