Beth Chapman and ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ Fans Stunned at Her Real Cause of Death Coming Out

Dog the Bounty Hunter fans were stunned after Beth Chapman‘s 20-year-old daughter, Bonnie Chapman, revealed that Chapman’s cause of death was lung cancer, not throat cancer, which she initially was diagnosed with in 2017. In an interview with SurvivorNet, Bonnie said that although Beth’s death in June was widely reported to be from throat cancer, it was actually stage IV lung cancer that took her life at the age of 51.

After Chapman received effective treatment for her stage II throat cancer, it entered into remission. But the remission didn’t last and the cancer returned and metastasized to her lungs.

“A lot of places have been reporting that she passed away to her throat cancer, but it was actually stage IV lung cancer in the end,” Bonnie said. Fans took to social media to react to the news.

Bonnie also explained how her mother ultimately decided to forgo chemotherapy. “She did try one round of chemo,” Bonnie said. “And it did not go well for her. She had very severe symptoms.”

Bonnie said that Chapman was essentially unable to get out of bed due to the chemo. “She had complained about every single joint in her body starting to ache… about her not being able to get up by herself to use the bathroom. It was hell to her.”

Bonnie said that Chapman “completely despised” chemotherapy after just a singular round of it. “She despised who she was after that one session. And she had tried [the chemo] because so many people had been telling her, ‘Please, at least try.’ And she didn’t want to disappoint people by not trying it at all, but at the end of they, she did not want to lose her hair, her teeth…. She didn’t want to feel like she was falling apart. She wanted to remain as much ‘Beth’ as possible. Even though when she did pass, she had lost the majority of her hair, she was really happy to still have her smile and still look like Beth.”

Chapman spoke about her decision to discontinue her chemo treatments on Mother’s Day when she made a speech at The Source Church in Bradenton, Florida. “Chemotherapy is not my bag, people. Sorry, that’s 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.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Bonnie looked back at the final moments of her mother’s consciousness, which Beth’s husband and Bonnie’s father, Duane “Dog” Chapman, still struggles to process.

“My dad goes over and over and over what happened because he can’t get it out of his head,” Bonnie said. “She quite literally choked on her cancer.”

“My mom was naked in the bathroom and told my dad to look at her,” she continued. “And he goes, ‘I am looking at you.’ And she goes, ‘No, look at me.’ And then she was standing there and she started gasping.”

“And my sister came into the room, and they called 911 immediately,” Bonnie said. “And that was the last moment that we really saw her completely conscious.”

Beth will appear on her and Dog’s new reality show, Dog’s Most Wanted, which will center around their bounty hunting business as well as Chapman’s final months with cancer. The series will premiere Wednesday, Sept. 4 on WGN America.

Photo credit: gotpap/Bauer-Griffin / Contributor / Getty