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Duane Chapman aka Dog the Bounty Hunter is speaking out following the passing of his wife Beth Chapman on Wednesday, June 26.
Beth passed away after being placed in a medically-induced coma due to complications from her battle with cancer. She was 51.
Speaking to HawaiiNewsNow after his wife’s passing, Chapman said, “For a few years now, we knew this day would come. Yet, it came very unexpected…really fast.” He started to tear up as he explained that all of her clothes, makeup and belongings were exactly where she left them.
He continued to talk about her final moments and what she said to him and her family who were by her side. “When she had an attack I didn’t know anything to do but to say ‘in Jesus’ name’ and hold her and when I said ‘in Jesus’ name’ she said, ‘Say it again, say it more,’” Dog recalled. “And then she told the girls and everybody, with her mouth — she came out of it a couple times — ‘I love you’ and ‘Are you guys all okay? Don’t worry,’ but she never accepted it.”
He went on to reflect on his wife and added she left him notes because she knew he wouldn’t know what to do without her. “Beth was somewhat of a control person — not from the grave but from heaven,” he joked. “I’m sure she’s still controlling me and I’ve got notes in my pillowcases, on my sink, in my shaving thing. She’s still telling me what to wear.”
“She did it her way. There’s some things that they predicted that the doctors ended up saying, ‘We’ve never, ever, seen anything like this,’” he shared. “Her way was to live. She wanted to live so bad and she fought so long, and the reason she fought, she liked life but she wanted to show people how to beat it and what to do when it got her.”
“One of the last things she said [was] ‘It’s a test of my faith,’” he continued. “She had faith and that was it. There’s things you go through when you’re dying, like steps like you do when you lose someone, right? You get mad at them, and then you go through all these steps.”
“Well, the last step when you’re dying is to accept it,” he added. “And she said to me the other day, ‘Honey, that last step, I ain’t taking…’ So go Bethy.”
Dog added, “I loved her so much. As Lazarus lay, Jesus said he’s not dead, he’s sleepeth. My final words are Beth isn’t dead, she’s sleeping.”
“I hope to god there is a God. I trained myself [to think] ‘What would Jesus do?’ and I hope I’m not just talking to myself,” he said. “I hope there is a God and if there is, I’m gonna see my honey again. That’s all we can do is hope.”
Part of Duane “Dog” Chapman’s interview with HawaiiNewsNow can be seen here.