Fans of Duane “Dog The Bounty Hunter” Chapman were stunned this week when he became engaged to his girlfriend Francie Frane just ten months after his wife Beth passed away due to a battle with throat and lung cancer. Dog has since received some backlash from fans who feel that he has moved on too fast, and he’s responded in a new interview by letting them know he believes Beth would approve of his new fiancé.
“I need a partner,” Dog, 67, told People Magazine. “I’ve said it before. There will never be another Mrs. Dog. There is not. Francie couldn’t do that. There will be a last Mrs. Chapman. If Beth was here, and saw Francie and saw how she was raised, her morality and this and that, Beth would say, ‘Big daddy, don’t lose her.'”
Dog went on to say that Beth, who was just 51 when she died, will always be a part of him.
“You’ll never forget the spouse. You can’t help it. I will never forget,” Chapman said. “But I’ve got to get out there. I’ve got to be able to say, ‘I came out of this and you can, too.’ As a human being, I don’t think you look for — not a replacement, because you can never find one. I’m learning that right now.”
When asked what made him decide that it was the right time to propose to Frane, Dog had an answer ready.
“When you know, you know,” he said. “I believe in marriage. Beth taught me.”
This comes after Dog and Beth’s 21 year-old daughter Bonnie spoke out to defend her father’s engagement.
“My father has gone through so much this past year without my mother. It’s been extremely difficult to see one parent pass, and the other so intent on following. My father deserves to be happy,” Bonnie wrote on Instagram. “He’s still got my mother’s name on his chest. He’ll never forget her and the love she gave him. She would be happy my father is in love and finding peace.”
“Life has never been easy for my dad, but love is something that comes naturally to him,” she continued.
Bonnie went on to say that she believes Beth “sent Francie,” who she described as “a wonderful woman.”
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