Dog the Bounty Hunter star Beth Chapman‘s daughter Cecily Chapman shared one more photo of her late mother on Saturday, just as the family gathered in Hawaii for her memorial. The beautiful photo shows Chapman — who died Wednesday at age 51 — with the family dog, overlooking the waters off the Hawaiian islands.
“Only if I could have her back,” Cecily wrote in the caption, alongside a double-heart emoji.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Cecily, 26, was among the mourners who rowed out to sea at the end of the memorial to bid Chapman goodbye. She later shared photos of the flower petals floating in the waters off Waikiki, Hawaii and thanked her husband Matty Smith, family, friends and fans.
Chapman died on Wednesday, June 26, surrounded by her family in Hawaii, just a few days after she was put in a medically induced coma. Her husband, Duane “Dog” Chapman, shared the sad news on Twitter.
“It’s 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain,” Duane tweeted. “Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side.”
After breaking the news, Duane spoke with Hawaii News Now, revealing his wife’s last words.
“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,’” Dog explained. “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.”
Chapman was diagnosed with throat cancer in September 2017 and doctors said she was cancer free after removing the mass. In November 2018, she was rushed to the hospital after having trouble breathing, and doctors discovered her cancer returned and spread to other organs. Chapman did chemotherapy for awhile, but stopped the treatments weeks before her death.
“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,” Dog told reporters. “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.”
Duane said Chapman told her this was a “test of my faith.”
“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,” Duane said. “Well, the last step when you’re dying is to accept it. And she said to me the other day, ‘Honey, that last step, I ain’t taking…’So go Bethy.”
Chapman and her husband will be seen on WGN America’s Dog’s Most Wanted, which the network will air next year. After Chapman’s death, WGN released a tribute video.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic news that [Beth Chapman lost her battle with cancer today,” the network tweeted. “She was an exceptional woman, all of us at WGN America will miss her tremendously. Our thoughts and prayers are with [Dog the Bounty Hunter], her family, loved ones and millions of fans.”
