Whatever Happened To Dog The Bounty Hunter's Baby Lyssa Chapman?

The following article mentions sexual assault and addiction.

Over the years, the transformation of Dog the Bounty Hunter has been truly something to behold. Duane "Dog" Chapman became a household name in the blink of an eye thanks to "Dog the Bounty Hunter," an A&E original series that was on from 2004 to 2012. Dog ran the bounty hunting operation alongside his late wife Beth Chapman, as well as some of his kids. His daughter Lyssa Chapman, also known as "Baby Lyssa," didn't join in until Season 2, but she wasted no time in winning over fans. From that point on, she remained a fixture of the series. 

Baby Lyssa was born in 1987 to Dog and his third wife, Lyssa Rae Brittain. She joined the show when she was still a teenager, but at that point, she'd already been through the wringer. Nowadays, Lyssa's the proud mom to Abbie Mae Chapman and Madalynn Grace Galanti. 

If there's one thing this former reality star is going to do, it's show the very real side of her life. As she shared on a 2023 episode of "The Rumor Mill" podcast, she apparently even got a slap on the wrist from Instagram after she shared some less-than-glamorous content. "I posted my house dirty, and I got shadowbanned on Instagram," she said. "It's just not what people want to see, they want to see your perfect house." Needless to say, Baby Lyssa hasn't stopped staying true to who she is all these years later.

To truly appreciate how far Lyssa Chapman has come, it's important to take note of just how harrowing her childhood really was. Some "Dog the Bounty Hunter" fans might've assumed that she and Duane "Dog" Chapman always along well, but that isn't the case. When she was just 11 years old, Lyssa falsely accused her father of sexual assault. "I had been molested by a friend of his," she told Fox News in 2013. "It was a horrible life that I never wanted to go back to, living with him and Beth and the fighting and the drugs." 

When Lyssa went to live with her mother in Alaska, she soon realized that substance misuse was a part of that household, too. However, at the time, the environment seemed more manageable. "When I got to my mother's, although she drank, it was much more peaceful," Lyssa said. "I was in school, I had friends, I was willing to do anything to not go back." She noted that her mother was inclined to accept her accusations against Dog as fact. "I think she wanted very badly to believe it because she had so many hard feelings towards my father," Lyssa said.

Despite their fraught history, Duane and Lyssa managed to reconcile. In the aforementioned Fox News interview, Lyssa said that she hadn't seen her mother since 2006.

One of the most tragic details about Dog the Bounty Hunter's daughter's life is just how quickly she was forced to grow up. After experiencing a rough childhood, Lyssa Chapman got pregnant at 14 years old. Her daughter Abbie Mae Chapman was born the day after Lyssa turned 15. Abbie's father was in his 20s at the time, and he eventually pled guilty to statutory rape. 

By the time she joined the reality show in 2005, Lyssa was 18 years old and already a few years into being a mother. As you may imagine, being a young mom wasn't easy for Lyssa, and evidently, her strained relationship with her own mother didn't help matters. As Lyssa told Fox News in 2013, "Right after I had the baby my mom moved with her boyfriend. Basically, she just stuck us in a trailer and told us to pay rent. At one point it was just me and my daughter and I was coming up with $500 rent every month by babysitting." At the time, her relationship with her dad, Duane "Dog" Chapman, was still fractured, so she couldn't reach out to him.

Lyssa was a kid raising a kid, and she didn't have the support system she needed. "I really felt like there was no future for me," she recalled on a 2023 episode of "The Rumor Mill" podcast. "I was a teen mom, I was poor living in Alaska with my mom."

When Lyssa Chapman joined the "Dog the Bounty Hunter" roster, the series already had a full season under its belt. While some reality show newcomers might study up and check out old seasons before signing on, Lyssa took a different route. As she told Fox News in 2013, she didn't have cable at her mom's place, so didn't see the show until she was actually on the show. "I had heard Dad was the star of a show but I didn't know anything about it so when I saw those cameras the first day I was astonished," she explained.

Producers made a meal out of Lyssa's Season 2 debut. The episode, which was called "Baby's Back in Town," chronicled her big return to Hawaii after she'd spent six years in Alaska. On a 2023 episode of "The Rumor Mill" podcast, Lyssa said at that point, she felt ready to give living with her dad another shot. "I kind of just changed my mindset and  stepped into my power," she said. 

In 2007, scandal struck "Dog the Bounty Hunter" after Duane "Dog" Chapman was heard using racist language on a recording. The series was temporarily suspended, but it returned the following year. It would stay on the air for four more years.

The year after "Dog the Bounty Hunter" concluded, Lyssa Chapman released a memoir called "Walking on Eggshells: Discovering Strength and Courage Amid Chaos." Ahead of the book's release, Lyssa told Fox News that she was compelled to put her life story to paper after so many people told her how interesting it was. "That was what really inspired me to write the story because when I did tell people little tidbits of my life their reaction was, 'Wow, I can't believe you're still standing,'" she said. "So I thought, 'Well this would be a really good story to get out.'" With the help of publisher Simon and Schuster, Lyssa was able to turn her dream into a reality.

On a 2023 episode of "The Rumor Mill," Lyssa reflected on how much it meant to get her own story out there. "I felt like when a lot of people go through things, especially in pop culture, and especially in celebrity world, we don't often talk about how you got out of it," she said. "I wanted to talk about recovery and teen parenthood and the things that I went through in my childhood."

Lyssa Chapman was not totally ready to move on from the cameras after "Dog the Bounty Hunter" ended. As she dished to Fox News in 2013, she started working on a reality series that was totally different from her family's show. "We're putting it together," she explained. "[It's] a show with teen moms helping them get jobs and helping them with their families. Teens are so bombarded with sex these days. It's all about sex and then when they get pregnant it becomes this big glorified event or they're shamed by their family." 

Years later, she shared a few more details about the series on "The Rumor Mill" podcast. "I was signed with Bunim/Murray ... and we were working really close with MTV, and I wanted to get into teen moms' homes," she said. "There were just a couple things that didn't work out, I don't know if it was the right time and place for it." 

While that show never came to fruition, Lyssa's small screen days were not over just yet. She not only had a cameo on "Hawaii Five-O" in 2014, but she popped up in a couple of episodes of Duane Chapman and Beth Chapman's spinoff "Dog and Beth: On the Hunt." However, as she said on "The Rumor Mill," she's not so sure she'd ever throw her hat back in the reality TV ring. "I don't think so ... unless it was for something really good, like a documentary or something," she stated.

Lyssa Chapman may be done with living her life in front of the reality TV cameras, but she has not stopped giving fans a peek into her life via social media. In recent years, the "Dog the Bounty Hunter" alum has stayed active on Instagram — pun intended. The former reality TV star regularly posts about her workouts, which include long  hikes and at-home exercise sessions. In 2020, she took to her Stories to share videos of herself working out and dancing, wearing a sports bra and leggings as she posed in front of a mirror. "I'm a whole f**king mood today," she wrote (via The Sun). 

Lyssa's love of exercise evidently inspired her to launch her very own line of clothing that included activewear. Her brand, which was called Baby by Lyssa Chapman, was started near the end of 2019. However, it took a little while to get things rolling due to the pandemic. "We took a break and we just picked it back up and it's actually doing really, really well," she said on "The Rumor Mill" in 2023. 

Sadly, it sounds like that momentum didn't stick. As of this writing, there aren't any products available on Baby by Lyssa Chapman's online store, and the brand's Instagram account has not been updated since 2023.

Lyssa Chapman's look has certainly changed since her days on "Dog the Bounty Hunter," but that is to be expected. After all, as she pointed out on "The Rumor Mill" podcast, a lot of time has passed. "I think the first time I was on [the show], I was 17 or 18, I had just turned 18. And then we wrapped the show around the time I was in my mid 20s," she said. "People are always like, 'You look so different, you've had all this plastic surgery, you've done all this stuff,' and I'm like, no, dude. I was 18. I've grown up since then."

While she may not have gotten work done, she has made some changes to her appearance. For starters, she parted ways with the long dark tresses she rocked while she was on her dad's reality show. In 2020, she showed off a new light blond long bob on Instagram. In 2022, she showed off an even shorter chop on Instagram. As of this writing, it looks like Lyssa has continued to embrace the light blond bob. And hey, who could blame her? It looks chic as can be.

When Lynne Chapman was a kid, she watched both of her parents struggle with addiction and substance misuse. At a young age, she also began using drugs. As she told Fox News, "people have problems and sometimes their young children get caught in the middle of their problems." She began her recovery journey after she was arrested in 2011. "Somebody put something in my drink and I was out walking the streets at three in the morning. The cops arrested me for disturbing the peace," she recalled. 

Lyssa didn't stop drinking alcohol for a little while after that. In December 2022, Lyssa took to Facebook to share that she'd made a major life change. She told her followers that she had dabbled with sobriety in the past, but in 2021, she had a transformative moment after she was unable to drive her sick dog to the vet. "When I finally got someone to take me, I was at the vet with a buzz and a sick dog and I remember thinking 'What if this had been my child?'" she recalled. Lyssa went on to say that after the initial 30 days, she couldn't help but notice how much better she felt.

In another post dated December 2022, she celebrated 18 months of sobriety. In the comments section, she acknowledged that being sober during the holiday season was hard, but she was ready to keep sticking to it. 

Longtime fans of the show might remember that Lyssa Chapman was previously married to Bo Galanti, with whom she had her youngest daughter, Madalynn Grace Galanti. The marriage lasted just one year, but Lyssa didn't close herself off to finding love again. In 2022, Lyssa tied the knot for the second time with her wife, Leiana Evensen, in a dreamy beach wedding in Hawaii. Lyssa and Evensen began dating in 2016.

Lyssa took to Instagram to share photos of the special day. "With our feet in the water, we connected ourselves to the power and vastness of the ocean," wrote Lyssa in the caption. "We were hugged by the majestic Ko'olau mountain range, that will continue hugging us as we live and spend the rest of our lives together at Makaalamihi."

Duane "Dog" Chapman wasn't there on the day, but Lyssa told People that he listened to the ceremony over the phone. She also insisted that he is totally on board with her marriage to Evensen, despite his history of homophobic comments. "I think it's really hard for people who are Christian and do have that belief that marriage belongs to a man and a woman," she said. "I don't want to put words in his mouth because I don't know what his exact feelings about it are, but he's never shown me anything other than support."

Dog the Bounty Hunter may be feuding with his daughter Bonnie Chapman, but he and Lyssa Chapman seem to still be on good terms... to a point. As Lyssa noted on the aforementioned episode of "The Rumor Mill," her father's political views do make it tough. "It's put some strain on our relationship, but we still talk and we're okay," she said. She also acknowledged that she doesn't really talk to most of her siblings anymore. 

In 2024, Lyssa posted a throwback photo of herself bounty hunting alongside the caption, "Guess who's getting back into the family business? Taking my bail test tomorrow. Look out Oahu, the Chapmans are back." This return to form delighted Lyssa's followers, with many of them taking to the comments section to cheer her on. 

She also revealed in a reply that she previously had a license (presumably while working with her father on the show), but it lapsed after she failed to keep up with the continuing classes. What Lyssa plans to do with her license remains unclear at the time of writing, but as she told "The Rumor Mill," she doesn't know if she'll get back to full-time bounty hunting with Dog, who went on to marry Francie Frane after Beth Chapman died. "I mean, my dad is 70 now. I don't know if he's bounty hunting," she said. "If something happened where there was a big case ... I would definitely be open to being a part of a team with my family."

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues or has been a victim of sexual assault, contact the relevant resources below:

• Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
• Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).