Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman’s Daughter Bonnie Speaks out About Francie Frane Engagement: ‘Let Him Be Happy’

Bonnie Chapman is welcoming Francie Frane, her father Duane “Dog” Chapman‘s new fiancee, into the Chapman family with open arms. The 21-year-old asked those criticizing Chapman for getting engaged just 10 months after her mother Beth Chapman’s death to let her father “live in peace.” Chapman announced his plans to get married to Frane in a new interview with The Sun, published Monday.

“As usual very thankful for those who are supportive, to those who want to criticize: please just let my father live in peace,” Bonnie wrote in a comment on her father’s Instagram page. “Let him be happy, please for the love of god let him be. My father has gone through so much this past year without my mother. It’s been extremely difficult to see one parent pass, and the other so intent on following.”

Bonnie said her father “deserves to be happy” and noted that Beth’s name is still tattooed on his chest. “He’ll never forget her and the love she gave him,” she wrote. “She would be happy my father is in love and finding peace. Please keep your comments to yourself, and if you can’t then it reflects more on you than him. Life has never been easy for my dad, but love is something that comes naturally to him.”

“Francie is a wonderful woman, as usual no one can replace my mother; but it’s okay to let new people in,” Bonnie continued. “Life is filled with so much sorrow and hurt, in times like this is when love is found unexpected. For those who claim to know my mother’s wishes: please remember that we as a family went through every excruciating and painful detail of what was next. I had this talk with her, my mother had so much love for my father, she would never want him to be alone. My mom wanted him to be happy no matter what.”

At the end of her statement, Bonnie welcomed Frane to the family. “There is always going to be one and only one Mrs. Dog. Welcome to the pack, Francie,” she wrote.

On Monday, The Sun published a new interview with Chapman, 67, in which he revealed he proposed to Frane, 51. The two began dating earlier this year after Chapman contacted her about having her husband do some yard work at his Colorado home. Sadly, Chapman learned Frane’s husband died recently and the two connected over their recent losses. The couple went public with their relationship in March, when Chapman’s daughter Lyssa Chapman get her endorsement in The Sun.

Chapman proposed to Frane after the two moved in together at Chapman’s home, where they have been quarantining together. Chapman promised the “biggest wedding there’s ever been” for his fans once the coroanvirus pandemic is over. He said it will be “one hell of a party.”

“I wasn’t expecting it at all.,” Frane told The Sun of the proposal. “I think I had gone to pick up some food and then when I came back he had all the lights turned down with just a few lights on and a bunch of candles lit. So when I came in I was like, ‘Wow, this is awesome.’ Then he said, ‘Come in, sit down because I need to talk to you.’ So I put all the food in the kitchen and I came in and he said, ‘I know that God brought you into my life and I don’t want to spend one moment of it without you.’”