Wedding bells are ringing! Reality star Dog the Bounty Hunter is reportedly engaged to his girlfriend, Francie Frane. The news comes 10 months after his wife, Beth Chapman, passed away.
Dog, whose real name is Duane Lee Chapman, ignited engagement rumors with a different woman early in 2020 when a clip from an appearance on a talk show began circulating online. In the clip, he is seen asking, "Moon Angell, will you marry me?" The idea that Dog would be engaged to a close family friend sent shock waves through his fan base, and even his daughter jumped in to issue a statement of discontent.
Dog began dating Francie only last month, and he reportedly proposed at their home in Colorado. The two have been spending the last few weeks living together amid Colorado's social distancing requirements. Dog has said that he's so happy that he wants to have "the biggest wedding that's ever been" and can't wait for his fans to see what their big day is like.
Francie told The Sun that the proposal was a total surprise.
"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. And he got down on one knee and he opened the ring box and he said, 'Will you marry me and spend the rest of our lives together?'"
She then added, "Who can say no to that? It was wonderful."
Dog and Francie will wait until lockdown orders have been lifted before they marry, as they have said that they want Dog's 12 children, Francie's two sons, and her grandchildren to all be at the wedding. Dog also said he'd love for extended family to join in on the big day, and he may even include his fans.
"I've had so many fans ask 'When you marry Francie, are you going to let your fans come? So we're word negotiating right now because I want to open it up. I would love to have the biggest wedding there's ever been. I'm sorry but that's just me. I hope I can talk Francie into it and open it to my fans, the 'Dog Pound,' to everybody."
He even says that he thinks their wedding might be exactly what his fans need after spending so much time at home. "I told Francie, people they need a little love after being locked down. I love the idea of that."
Dog and Francie actually have a lot in common: They both lost their spouses within six months of one another.
Francie's husband died six months before Beth Chapman's death. Dog and Francie actually met after Dog called her husband to ask him if he could do some work for him and only got his voicemail. Dog left a message, and Francie called him back to explain that her husband was no longer alive. The two became friends and then started a relationship.
Dog's wife, Beth, died from throat cancer in June 2019. She was only 51 at the time of her death, which Dog announced by tweet: "It's 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain. Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side."
Happily, Dog and Francie have been able to find love again. They told The Sun that a lot of people have been really supportive of their relationship.
"You know we go to Walgreens, Walmart, Starbucks and every single fan has been like 'My God you guys look good together' or 'Boy Dog you should keep with her, with her strength and her Christianity, she will stand by you.'"
Dog said that it really helps their morale: "So we have trusted that — and everyone is happy for us. And you know there's always going to be haters, and I probably arrested half of them."
Francie also added, "I think too that there's always going to be people who say we did this wrong or we did that wrong or we've moved on too quickly or too fast. But the truth is that both of us have spent three years walking alongside our spouses sick and we know that God brought us together and that's why we don't believe that it's too soon."
She said that it's just meant to be: "And because we both have done our share of screaming and crying and asking why. Then for us to come together the way that we did and build this friendship because of what we've been through, that turned into a love story. We don't believe that it's too soon."
