‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’: Bonnie Chapman Says Parents Welcomed Sexuality Reveal ‘With Open Arms’

Bonnie Chapman, the daughter of Duane “Dog” Chapman and Beth, recently showed a lot of bravery online to come out as pansexual to her followers. But as she says in the post, she also broke the news to her parents and was pleasantly surprised with their reaction.

“I was so scared when I told my parents in November, but they welcomed me with open arms,” Bonnie opened up about on social media. “I appreciate those who knew and kept it a secret, thank you for letting me take my time. I truly am so thankful to you all.”

The post dropped back in March, but still has some reverberations given the current situation with Beth Chapman‘s cancer and the way the family has circled around the matriarch since November. It would mean that Bonnie broke the news around the time of Beth’s emergency surgery that indicated her cancer had returned. For Bonnie, the moment was immeasurable.

“For the past seven years, I’ve kept kind of a big secret to myself,” she opened the post with. “I’m pansexual, now I’m sure the term is familiar with some people. It means to me I fall in love with personalities, rather than a gender. I haven’t told many people until now.”

The 20-year-old earned plenty of support in the comments, telling her she can “fall in love with who you want to” and her sexuality is nothing to be ashamed about.

It also represents a bright spot for Chapman following a year of rough news. Not only has she had to cope with Beth’s first bought with cancer, she recently lost to someone she referred to as “one of my only friends.“

“Never expected I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends. One of my only friends, the one who really was there for me. I’m going to miss you Elysia, you always were an angel. Rest In Peace love,” Chapman wrote with a photo she posted on Instagram back in January.

Elysia Bassett died suddenly to start 2019, adding to the pain that Bonnie had to be feeling to begin the year. It came only months after the return of her mother’s cancer and the news that it was “incurable.” The 20-year-old had written about her depression through the first battle one year prior.

“I had thought it was the end of the world at the time. Two weeks later, the most heartbreaking news hit me, my mother was diagnosed with cancer,” Chapman captioned a note addressed to 2017 on Instagram. “Balancing my already overflowing emotions, and college classes was difficult. My depression was at its all time high. Stress levels seemed to just keep raising, and even though I had only one exam; stress radiated off of everyone on campus. From all this, I learned so much. I don’t regret anything, life is too short to regret things anyways. I was able to love myself, and gain confidence.”

The silver lining is that this acceptance and her ability to make it through tough times.