Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman revealed the special message his late wife Beth Chapman shared two months before her death from cancer.
The “Dog’s Most Wanted” star appeared on “The Dr. Oz Show” Monday where he shared the comforting words Beth offered that continue to give him solace.
The reality TV star passed away in June at age 51.
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“My parrot died about two months before Beth left me, and I was crying,” said the 66-year-old. “And she said, ‘Why are you crying? It’s a bird!’ I said, ‘Cause I loved him!’ She said, ‘Big Daddy, you’re gonna be so sad when I die, but it’s gonna be OK.’
“She said, ‘The Bible says time heals all wounds’ — and I looked and it’s not in there — and she said, ‘With time, it’ll get better, but don’t you ever take my name off your chest!’” Duane continued. “’I promise you, honey, I won’t.’”
In the clip obtained by the outlet, Duane showed Dr. Oz, 59, his “Beth” tattoo on his left pectoral muscle.
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During his appearance, Duane also revealed he is now suffering from a pulmonary embolism in the heart two weeks after he was hospitalized for chest pains. The condition is caused when one or more arteries have been blocked by blood.
In September of this year, Duane told Fox News that despite Beth’s health deteriorating during the final months of her life, she was determined to be by her family’s side, further building their bounty business.
“When I first started dating Beth about 31 years ago, I had a skinhead break my nose,” Duane recalled. “I cuffed him and I was in his face calling him names and he head-butted me — I’ve learned not to call names or get in a skinhead’s face since then. But I came home… She’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ Blood everywhere. Of course, the old saying was, what does the other guy look like? I go, ‘Listen, pretty bad.’ She’s like, ‘Sure.’ She went with me to the next bust.”
“She wanted to be there all the time to make sure the stories I told her were true,” Duane continued. “She would not let me go anywhere by myself ever. She hung with me… I think out of the 30 plus years, there were maybe seven to eight days when we were apart during something — oh, when I was in jail in Mexico. That was the longest we were ever apart. Her being right by my side ... was Beth and she wasn’t going to let cancer stop that. She was going out there with the family and with me.”
In 2003, “Dog the Bounty Hunter” originally premiered on A&E, launching the couple into reality TV stardom.
After several years together building their bail and bounty business, Duane proposed to Beth in 2005 in Las Vegas, where they almost tied the knot but were too late to the courthouse. They ended up marrying in May 2006, but the wedding was bittersweet: The day before their big day, Duane's daughter, Barbara Katy Chapman, died in a car accident near her Alaska home.
As for what made them finally marry, Duane wrote in his book "Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given:" "Our youngest children had begun to ask us why we weren't married, and Beth was being referred to as my 'life partner' or 'sidekick.' Those descriptions weren't fair to her, either. In my heart, I always knew Beth would be my forever wife. It was time to make it official."