Last night it was revealed that Duane Chapman's wife, Beth, had passed away at the age of 51. Beth - known for appearing alongside her husband in Dog The Bounty Hunter and other spin-off reality shows - had been placed into a medically-induced coma after a long battle with cancer.
Hours after Duane 'Dog' Chapman made the announcement that she had died in Hawaii, he spoke to reporters about her death, and how he and his family have responded.
"It’s terrible, the most terrible time in someone’s life,” he told Hawaii News Now, along with his two daughters. "You kind of try to remember that you’re celebrating life, but right now we’re mourning the death, so it’s not good."
He then went on to reveal that Beth's final words were more concerned with her family than her own condition. He explained:
"When she had an attack I didn’t know anything to do but to say ‘in Jesus’ name’ and hold her and when I said ‘in Jesus’ name’ she said, ‘Say it again, say it more'. And then she told the girls and everybody, with her mouth - she came out of it a couple times - ‘I love you’ and ‘Are you guys all okay? Don’t worry,’ but she never accepted it.
"So amazing, this is totally unbelievable.
"She did it her way. There’s some things that they predicted that the doctors ended up saying, ‘We’ve never, ever, seen anything like this.' Her way was to live. She wanted to live so bad and she fought so long, and the reason she fought, she liked life but she wanted to show people how to beat it and what to do when it got her.
"One of the last things she said [was] ‘It’s a test of my faith'. She had faith and that was it. There’s things you go through when you’re dying, like steps like you do when you lose someone, right? You get mad at them, and then you go through all these steps."
Beth had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2017, and was later declared cancer-free that December. However, the disease later returned and spread to her lungs, and was later described as incurable.
"It came very unexpected, really fast," Chapman explained to reporters tearfully. "All of her clothes were exactly where they were, her makeup, everything. We didn’t prepare.”
"It’s just incredible when you walk alone in the bedroom and you’re there and she was there two days ago. I loved her so much. As Lazarus lay, Jesus said he’s not dead, he’s sleepeth. My final words are Beth isn’t dead, she’s sleeping.
"I hope to god there is a God. I trained myself [to think] ‘What would Jesus do?’ and I hope I’m not just talking to myself. I hope there is a God and if there is, I’m gonna see my honey again. That’s all we can do is hope."
Beth is survived by Duane and their two daughters, as well as two other children.
