Tragic Details About Dog The Bounty Hunter's Fifth Wife Beth Chapman

The following article includes mentions of domestic abuse, substance abuse, and violence.

There aren't many people out there like Duane Lee Chapman, which is Dog the Bounty Hunter's real name, but fans didn't love the show just because of him. People tuned in to see his wife, Beth Chapman, just as much. The dynamic between Beth and Dog was something beautiful in the entirely crazy world of bail bonds. Throughout the show's tenure on our screens, we got a deep insight into the couple's loving relationship, and they soon became pop culture icons. Their trademark blond hair and straight-talking attitudes quickly made them reality TV royalty, but it all came to a tragic halt when Beth died in 2019 from throat cancer. It's hard not to feel like Beth, the matriarch of the Chapman family, and the world at large were robbed, as Beth was just 51 at the time of her death. 

While we always saw the duo present a united front, Beth lived a full life before she became Mrs. Chapman, and her path to happiness wasn't always paved with gold. From her abusive first marriage to devastating losses, crimes, and health problems, Beth Chapman's life was far more complicated than most fans even knew. Let's take a look at the trials and tribulations that shaped who Beth was at her core, giving her the famous strength and determination she often passed on to others. 

It may be hard to imagine that Beth Chapman and her husband Duane "Dog" Chapman had trouble getting together. Their commitment to each other was unwavering, but in reality, they had a rocky road to love. They were in one another's lives for years before they became an official couple. In fact, Beth first met Dog when he bailed her out of jail when she was 19 years old. "When I did come and see him [for the first time], he came walking out there and I said, 'Oh yes, he will be mine,'" Beth told Rosie O'Donnell in a 2011 interview. "'Let the stalking begin.'" While the instant attraction was undeniable, Dog was already married to his third wife, Lyssa Rae Brittain. In his autobiography, "You Can Run, But You Can't Hide," Dog explained that Beth began to stalk him, appearing everywhere he went, no matter how hard he tried to avoid her. 

It wasn't until many years later, after Beth had one failed marriage under her belt and Dog had been married another time, that the stars finally aligned. "I was the other woman through ... two wives, one really good girlfriend," Beth admitted to O'Donnell in the same interview.

If you've looked into the most tragic details of Dog the Bounty Hunter's kids, you know the Chapman family hasn't had it easy. Duane "Dog" Chapman's life has been tricky from the start, and in turn, some of his kids didn't have the best upbringing. Even though Beth Chapman didn't become an official member of the family until the couple tied the knot in 2006, she also had a turbulent past. When she couldn't snare Dog after she met him, Beth moved on, eventually marrying a former friend of Dog's, Keith Barmore. Dog wasn't a fan of Barmore from the start, and wrote disparagingly about him in his autobiography, "You Can Run But You Can't Hide." He wrote, "Keith was no better as an adult than he was as a punk kid. He was a thief with a heroin habit. He would drink beer just to even out from the drugs" (via E! News).

Dog's instincts that it was a bad match turned out to be true, as Beth was being violently abused by her new husband. "Beth's a tough girl, but when I heard Keith was beating on her, I wanted to kill him myself," he wrote. The situation was made more complicated when Beth and Dog began sleeping with each other outside of their respective marriages. Although Beth refrained from discussing the details of her past relationship during her time in the spotlight, she did rebuke the idea that addiction was a disease back in 2015 on X (formerly known as Twitter). "Sorry, my first husband was a heroin addict and I know all about it! It's not a disease, it's an addiction! #ilivedit," she tweeted, to the dismay of some of her fans.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

Looking at the transformation of Dog the Bounty Hunter, it's almost impossible to think about what his life used to look like. Duane "Dog" Chapman's arrest record shows that he was arrested in the '70s for his involvement in the murder of a man in Texas. He was sentenced to prison for five years, but he was released on parole after 18 months. Even after picking the right side of the law and later becoming a bail bondsman, he still had demons to face that almost cost him his life. This would have a huge impact on Beth further down the line. In the '90s, Dog moved to Hawaii and struck up a romantic relationship with a woman battling substance abuse. Before long, he wound up in the same hole and risked losing everything he had worked hard for. Desperate, he called Beth to help. 

Beth still had feelings for him and did what any woman in love would do: She dropped everything and hightailed it to Hawaii to help him get clean. Despite her best efforts, Dog ultimately refused Beth's help, and as a result, his life was in tatters. He had no choice but to move back to Denver. Although he and Beth reconnected, it came with challenges. For instance, Dog's sister warned him to stay away from Beth, while Beth had to leave another abusive relationship. After that, she had the gargantuan task of putting Dog back together again and helping him kick his substance problem for good. "If Beth hadn't saved me, I'm not sure I would have survived those years," Dog wrote in his autobiography (via E News). 

Losing a parent is a unique type of heartache that no one really gets over. In 2006, Beth Chapman lost her father, Garry Smith, at the height of her fame on "Dog the Bounty Hunter." Smith was known to fans, as he appeared in a few episodes of the first three seasons, where he was known affectionately as "Pops." He died at the age of 68 from complications related to diabetes and heart disease, leaving not only Beth but four other kids and an impressive 15 grandchildren behind. Beth spoke of her sorrow in a 2016 Facebook post paying tribute to her father. 

"To me, he was my garage sale buddy, my burger joint partner, ice cream eater, green chili maker, and my best friend, but mostly he is my dad and he's always with me!" read part of the lengthy tribute, posted alongside an old photograph of her dad dressed in a dapper grey suit with a striped tie. Considering how close they were, it's not surprising that Beth continued to feel the loss so deeply, even 10 years after his death.

Despite its long-standing popularity, the "Dog the Bounty Hunter" series suffered a few bumps in the road along the way. Beth Chapman often found herself having to fight her way through scandal after scandal. As the family matriarch, she was unwavering — even when her husband, Duane "Dog" Chapman came under fire for using racist terms. In 2007, a phone call between Dog and his son, Tucker, was released, in which Dog repeatedly called Tucker's Black girlfriend an offensive racial slur. As a result of Dog's behavior, their reality show was put on hiatus, and it was uncertain if it would ever return. However, Dog apologized and the show did come back in 2008, to the surprise of many. Another scandal in 2013 related to a bounty hunt 10 years prior saw Dog charged over $800,000 for unpaid legal fees. 

While it's true that none of these upsets directly involved Beth causing trouble herself, as Dog's partner in life and business, she had to bear the brunt of the stress while keeping calm and carrying on for the family. However, considering the lengths it took to get her relationship with Dog off the ground in the first place, perhaps Beth became used to the hardship. 

On the morning of a wedding, the bride and groom should be excited, giddy, and looking forward to one of the most special days of their lives. It took Duane "Dog" Chapman and Beth Chapman years to finally walk down the aisle, but their wedding day took a heartbreaking twist. The day before their nuptials in Hawaii, Dog's eldest daughter, Barbara Katie Chapman, was killed when she crashed a stolen vehicle into a tree. Beth received the news first and had to tell her future husband on the morning of their wedding that his beloved daughter had died.

It's a devastating turn of events that no one saw coming. On what should've been one of the happiest days of her life, Beth found herself at a crossroads with her future husband. Despite the tragic news, they went ahead with the ceremony as planned. "They all decided unanimously they should celebrate the wedding and her life," A&E executive Michael Feeney said at the time (via E News).

Beth Chapman's difficulties didn't start and end in her youth. In 2012, she had to deal with some truly horrific emails that were sent to Duane "Dog" Chapman that seriously threatened the safety of her entire family. The messages were graphic and disturbing. One read, "I'm going to murder you ... You are next on my list and are the bane of society. I will deliver you to God," according to RadarOnline. Another awful email targeted Beth directly, threatening to harm both her and her children. Other hateful texts sent by the assailant were much more detailed and horrific. 

The sender, who wrote multiple emails from April to May, said they had a "rather nasty vendetta" against the Chapman family. Naturally, Beth, Dog, and the rest of the Chapmans were so disturbed by the emails that they contacted law enforcement, with the case eventually ending up with the Honolulu FBI. "The Chapmans are taking these threats seriously and are very concerned about the safety of their family," read the family statement (via E! News). "Duane Chapman said that when the person responsible is found, he will prosecute to the full extent of the law for the threats made against his family."

Dog the Bounty Hunter's daughter "Baby" Lyssa has come a long way in her life, but she's lucky to still be here at all. Back in 2014, Lyssa Chapman was involved in a serious car accident in Hawaii, shaking her stepmom, Beth Chapman, to the core. Beth spoke to TMZ at the time, telling them that Lyssa had "all our kids in the car." The star, then 27, had her two daughters, Abbie and Madalynn, in the vehicle at the time of the incident. More details about the accident are scarce, but the photographs published by TMZ show Lyssa's black car smashed up on the driver's side with bits of it scattered across the road. The airbag had been deployed, meaning this must've been one heck of a fender bender. 

Although Lyssa isn't Beth's biological child (her mother is Dog's former wife, Lyssa Rae Brittain), the pair were incredibly close and shared a special bond. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the crash and all of the passengers were able to walk away, though the outcome could've been very different. Considering that Lyssa's sister, Barbara Katie Chapman, died in a car crash, this must have been a horrifying case of déjà vu for Beth and her husband.

It's a sad fact that celebrities are often targeted in robberies, purely because criminals know they're likely to possess belongings of great value. What some may not realize is that these instances go way beyond the loss of assets and leave victims reeling. To this day, there's one thing Kim Kardashian is afraid to keep in her home, following her highly-publicized Paris robbery. Beth Chapman faced her own hotel room robbery nightmare in 2017. It may not have been as harrowing as Kardashian's, but it doesn't make it any less wrong. Beth was staying at the Luxe Hotel in Los Angeles with her husband Duane "Dog" Chapman when the pair noticed that the $5,000 in cash they had placed inside their room safe had disappeared while they had been out. Interestingly, the perpetrator didn't take any other valuable items, such as jewelry. 

A source told TMZ that there was no forced entry, so police were working on the assumption that it was an inside job. To make matters even worse, the invasion of privacy came just a few short months before Beth received devastating health news.

One of the most tragic details about Dog the Bounty Hunter is just how hard it was to watch him deal with his wife's diagnosis. Beth Chapman was always the strong matriarch of the family, dealing out tough love and words of wisdom, even to fugitives. In 2017, fans were devastated to learn of her cancer diagnosis. At the time, she was just 49 years old. 

In a heartfelt letter she penned to friends and family, Beth said, "After months of a nagging cough, a routine checkup resulted in a diagnosis of stage II throat cancer" (via Us Weekly). She went on to say that she was confident she could come out the other side. "To be certain, I've stared down the devil more than once in my life, but I've never faced a real life or death decision," she wrote. "My life has never been easy, and I surely don't expect it to start now. Still, I've never been a victim and I won't let cancer beat me." 

Beth bravely documented her cancer journey in a TV special, "Dog and Beth: Fight of Their Lives." It seemed like there was hope after doctors managed to remove the tumor restricting Beth's breathing during a grueling 12-hour surgery. Beth's fans rejoiced after her successful operation, but she sadly did not remain cancer-free for long.

As we well know, cancer is a cruel and unpredictable disease. Doctors were confident that the surgery they performed to remove the tumor on Beth Chapman's throat was successful — and for a time, it was. However, Beth received the crushing news a year later that the cancer had reoccurred, and this time, there was a mass on her lung. This was the start of a truly testing time for the couple, as Beth underwent another surgery and Dog decided to go back to work to help "absorb some of the cost of the medical bills" (via E! News). Beth later revealed while speaking at The Source Church in Bradenton, Florida, that she had opted to forgo chemotherapy, relying on her faith and other treatments instead. "Chemotherapy is not my bag people," she said during her speech (via PopCulture). "That is not for me. For me, this is the ultimate test of faith. This is my ultimate lesson. And it'll either be taught to you or to me." 

Beth's family and loyal fans hoped for the best possible outcome, but it wasn't to be. On June 25, 2019, Dog took to X to let fans know Beth had died. "It's 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain," he wrote. "Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side." Beth was just 51. 

On the outside, it looks like Beth Chapman and Duane "Dog" Chapman had the kind of love that comes along once in a lifetime, and that could be true. However, after Beth's death, her daughter Bonnie Chapman had a lot to say that shed a different light on the couple's marriage. Bonnie took to social media to claim that her father was less than faithful during their union. "I had forgiven my father after my mother's death for countless actions that I shouldn't have," she wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post (via People). "He would cheat on my mom all the time, and I hated him every time he did it, but I forgave him for that because I wanted a relationship with my dad."

Bonnie went on to detail that her mother always stood by Dog, no matter the circumstances. "She loved my father and did her best to make him the best man he could be. All too often, that job consisted of dealing with his near-constant infidelity with her friends and strangers," she revealed. We'll never know if Bonnie's allegations are true, but Dog does have a colorful romantic history and has admitted to infidelity in past marriages. Nevertheless, it's yet another tragic turn of events that continued to follow Beth from this life into the next.