Whatever Happened To Chapel From Return To Amish?
For as long as Chapel Peace Schmucker has been in the public eye, she has had a bit of a rough go of it. TMZ reported in March 2016 that she was one of 27 people arrested in a huge drug bust. Chapel "was charged with possession with intent to distribute and for having paraphernalia." This came just two months after she and her sister were arrested for attempting to pass off someone else's clean urine as their own (via Starcasm). A year prior, Starcasm reported that Chapel was arrested for possession of heroin and unauthorized possession of Valium, as well as paraphernalia.
On top of her substance abuse problems, Chapel is also a cancer survivor. Return to Amish documented her struggles with her cancer recurrence, leading to some fans openly questioning if it was real. "Other events occurring on the show are happening right around Groundhog's Day, which would put filming in late January, early February — months after Chapel would have first received the bad news about her cancer returning from her doctor," Starcasm wrote. "So I assume Chapel, [her husband] Andrew and the rest of the cast were asked to recreate all of those scenes, and obviously these aren't actors, so of course the scenes come across as a little staged." They also point out that in the scene that shows Chapel and Andrew going to her doctor, they are walking into a massage parlor.
Better days for Chapel Schmucker did not come without more controversy
One of her former castmates, Kate Stoltz, confirmed that Chapel Schmucker did not have cancer during filming. In a series of tweets that have since been deleted (but were captured by Starcasm), Kate wrote that Chapel "was NOT doing chemo when the show was filmed. She was in remission and had us all fooled into thinking she was very sick." In another tweet, Kate accuses Chapel of using cancer and chemo "to cover up a heroin addiction."
Chapel got out of prison in December 2016 and revealed on Facebook that she and Andrew Schmucker would not be returning to the show. A fan suggested she "pack up, move and start over," to which Chapel replied, "Already doing all those things" (via Starcasm).
Now, things appear to be on the up and up for Chapel. Nicki Swift reported that in January 2019, Chapel revealed on Facebook that she was three years sober from opiates and that she had made good on her pledge to pack up and start over, writing that she "had to leave punxsy and start a new life where I knew no one to maintain sobriety." The post has since been made private.