The Untold Truth Of Beth Chapman

Beth Chapman, the late wife of Duane "Dog" Chapman and former co-star of Dog the Bounty Hunter, was one of the most memorable faces of reality television. Between her bleach blonde hair and no-nonsense attitude, she was hard to forget. Many fans continued to follow the Colorado native's journey on social media and via various television specials long after the hit A&E show ended in 2012, but public interest in the bail bondswoman spiked in September 2017, when she was diagnosed with stage II throat cancer. 

After going into remission, Beth's cancer returned in November 2018. The news came as a devastating blow to Duane, the couple's large gaggle of children, and countless viewers. Things took a turn for the worse when Beth was placed in a medically-induced coma due to complications stemming from her illness. She died on June 26, 2019, at a hospital in Honolulu, according to TMZ. She was 51 years old. In a heartfelt tribute to his beloved wife, Duane tweeted: "It's 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain. Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side."

There's no denying Beth was a fighter. The TV personality's miraculous spirit and story proved to be an inspiration to many. Learn more about her life in the untold truth of Beth Chapman.

It might sound like a made up story, but Beth Chapman's meet-cute had a sour start. Here's what happened: In 1988, a 19-year-old Beth accidentally shoplifting a lemon while grocery shopping. "She was standing on line at the grocery store waiting to pay for the lemon when she received a page on her beeper from her boss, a Colorado state senator," Duane Chapman shared in his 2007 memoir, You Can Run but You Can't Hide. "Whenever he paged her, she had to respond right away. This was before cell phones, so she got out of line to use the pay phone, still holding the lemon. Store security nabbed her on the spot for shoplifting."

The incident wouldn't have been a big deal, but Beth was also got caught with her boyfriend's unregistered and unlicensed gun, which Duane claimed she'd taken for safety reasons. Store employees called the police, who ran a check on Beth and found she had a warrant out for her arrest due to unpaid parking tickets. Beth went to jail, and lo and behold, Duane was her bondsman. The bounty hunter was married to his third wife at the time, but Beth felt they'd be together one day. He joked in his book: "Beth loves to tell people that the minute she laid eyes on me in the office that day, she knew I would be her man."

Speaking of Beth Chapman's ex-husband, she was supposedly unfaithful to Keith A. Barmore. According to Duane Chapman's claim in You Can Run but You Can't Hide, his attraction to Beth was apparently too strong to avoid infidelity. "Truth be told, Beth and I were sleeping together the entire time I was married to Tawny and throughout her marriage to Keith," Duane wrote. "Beth used to jokingly threaten to take our motel bill to the office and show it to Tawny unless I promised to show up and spend more time with her. I always had Beth book the room in her name, just in case." 

Duane alleged it was Beth who was the pursuer in their relationship, writing: "Even though we were both married, Beth was still in hot pursuit of my affection. After she got her bond license, she began writing some pretty sketchy bail so I would have to chase down her guys if they skipped ... She was looking for high-risk guys to make sure she saw as much of me as she could." Beth did fess up to those "bad bail" claims in an interview with A&E.

Beth Chapman approached her cancer battle with a positive attitude in 2017. "My life has never been easy, and I surely don't expect it to start now," she said (via Radar Online). "Still, I've never been a victim and I won't let cancer beat me." This outlook continued when her cancer returned the following year. While the Chapmans traveled the country for "experimental treatments," they spent much of their time at home in Hawaii in 2019. 

"I value every single day," Beth told the Star Advertiser. "Even though the outlook is grim, I just don't want to live it like that ... I'm a strong fighter, big-time survivor, and I'm gonna fight this as vigorously as it's fighting me." She told Hawaii News Now, "I think that faith and fear void each other out, so you have to pick one."

Determined not to let her illness slow her down, Beth continued to work alongside her doting husband and filled her social media accounts with endless inspirational posts. "I am so amazed by Beth's strength," Duane Chapman told the Daily Mail. "She has told me repeatedly that if these are her last days on earth she wants to spend every moment with me on the hunt, living life to the fullest and enjoying the time we have left together."

Chemotherapy uses strong chemicals to kill fast-growing cells and is a common way to treat cancer. While Beth Chapman tried this treatment to cure her cancer, she reportedly came to reject this strategy over time. "Chemotherapy is not my bag, people," she allegedly said during a church service speech in May 2019 (via People). "Sorry, that's not for me. So for me, this is the ultimate test of faith. This is my ultimate lesson."

We can't say for certain what other treatments Beth tried in replacement of chemo, but it's possible she considered CBD and THC, two natural compounds found in cannabis. Our theory rests on an Instagram post shared in February 2019, in which Beth posted photos of an informational booth about CBD and THC. "The real medicine behind the plant is very interesting the healing qualities are vast," she wrote in the caption. "We need to all be far more open minded to new treatments ... We no longer need to poison patients to get them well."

Although some people might have found this take controversial, Beth Chapman ultimately reserved the right to make her own decisions about her health.

In the days leading up to her death in June 2019, Beth Chapman was rushed to the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii and placed under a medically-induced coma (via Hawaii News Now). According to TMZ, she'd suffered a "breathing issue" that became "a choking emergency." Not long after, Duane Chapman asked fans to pray. 

"She was surrounded by family and Dog was there, holding her hand" at the time of her death, a rep for the Chapman family told People. As funeral arrangements were made in both Honolulu and Colorado, The Blast reported that Beth's body would be cremated, according to her wishes. "You kind of try to remember that you're celebrating life, but right now we're mourning the death," Duane told Hawaii News Now. "For a few years we knew this day would come. It came really unexpected, really fast ... We didn't prepare." Duane also shared some of her final words (via Radar Online): "One of the last things she said [was], 'It's a test of my faith.' She had faith and that was it."

Fans, fellow celebrities, and loved ones took to Twitter to mourn her loss. Our thoughts are with Beth Chapman's loved ones during this difficult time.