Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman’s daughter Bonnie says that people should “let him be happy.”
Chapman revealed Monday that he is set to tie the knot with Francie Frane less than one year after his wife Beth Chapman passed away from throat cancer.
Bonnie took to Instagram to defend her dad against fans’ criticism, writing: “As usual very thankful for those who are supportive, to those who want to criticize: please just let my father live in peace. Let him be happy, please for the love of God let him be.
“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,” she wrote in a lengthy comment 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,” Bonnie continued. “Please keep your comments to yourself, and if you can’t then it reflects more on you than him. Life has never been easy for my dad, but love is something that comes naturally to him.”
She said that her father’s new fiancée is “a wonderful woman, as usual no one can replace my mother; but it’s OK to let new people in.”
“For those who claim to know my mother’s wishes: please remember that we as a family went through every excruciating and painful detail of what was next. I had this talk with her, my mother had so much love for my father, she would never want him to be alone,” Bonnie wrote. “My mom wanted him to be happy no matter what.
“There is always going to be one and only one Mrs. Dog. Welcome to the pack, Francie,” Bonnie concluded.
Bonnie also responded to fans in the comments, letting them know she misses her mom “every day” but that she knows “she sent Francie. She’s a blessing and is helping my dad heal day by day.”
Bonnie explained to another fan that her mother’s “feelings changed as her condition worsened.”
“We all thought she’d have more time, she put her full faith in God, but her time with us wasn’t as long as expected. My mother wanted my dad to be happy at all costs,” she added. “There will never be another Mrs. Dog, but there can be a Mrs. Chapman.”
Chapman’s daughter Lyssa also welcome her dad’s fiancée to the family on Instagram.
On Monday, Chapman’s rep said the couple is “very happy and looking forward to a long life together.”
Chapman and Frane revealed the details of their engagement to the Sun, saying it took place at their home in Colorado.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Frane said. “I think I had gone to pick up some food and then when I came back, he had all the lights turned down with just a few lights on and a bunch of candles lit.
“So when I came in I was like, ‘Wow, this is awesome.’ Then he said, ‘Come in, sit down because I need to talk to you.’ So I put all the food in the kitchen and I came in, and he said, ‘I know that God brought you into my life and I don’t want to spend one moment of it without you.’”
Chapman then asked if she would marry him, and Frane said yes.
The couple also said they want to wait until the lockdown due to the novel coronavirus is over to celebrate their engagement.
Chapman, 67, said he’s open to the idea of a televised wedding.
“I’ve had so many fans ask ‘When you marry Francie, are you going to let your fans come?’” he said. “So we’re negotiating right now because I want to open it up.
“I would love to have the biggest wedding there’s ever been. I’m sorry, but that’s just me. I hope I can talk Francie into it and open it to my fans, the ‘Dog Pound,’ to everybody,” he said. “It would be one hell of a party and it’s just what people need right now. I told Francie, people, they need a little love after being locked down. I love the idea of that.”
—
Take a look at Bonnie’s posts below: