When Duane Chapman, star of “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” looks back on his life, he can see God’s fingerprints all over it — from the devastating losses to the victories.
“My journey has built faith,” the 69-year-old reality star told The Christian Post. “I’ve been through some terrible stuff, but it builds faith when you can look back and tell other people ‘Look, I’ve been there done that. Here’s what you do.’ And then they do it. I love sharing my testimony … so others don’t have to go through it.”
Chapman, who starred in the popular A&E series until it ended in 2012, credits this faith for sustaining him through the 2009 death of his 23-year-old daughter, Barbara Katy, and 10 years later, the loss of his wife, Beth, who died after a lengthy cancer battle.
“With all of that, I was very depressed; I was sad,” the father-of-13 shared. “After Beth died, I’d see these other couples and think, ‘Well, she’s up there partying with Jesus and I’m down here bawling every day.’”
So Chapman started praying — and he felt God gently remind him that “it isn’t good for man to be alone.”
“I started praying for a wife,” he said. “I said, ‘Alright God, bring me a Christian; I want a girl who knows the Holy Ghost and can speak in tongues.’ And God brought her right to me.”
In September 2020, Chapman married Francie, a rancher, who lost her late husband, Bob, following his death from cancer just months before Beth passed away.