Dog the Bounty Hunter Tells of Suicidal Thoughts After Losing Beloved Wife Beth Chapman

Getty Images | Christopher Polk

“I don’t realize yet, psychologically, that she’s gone and I’ll never, ever see her. I don’t realize that,” were Dog the Bounty Hunter’s impactful words, heard by millions as the finale of his own WGN’s TV show “Dog’s Most Wanted,” which aired on Nov. 6, 2019.

Duane “Dog” Chapman, 66, was so overwhelmed by grief in the hours following his beloved wife Beth Chapman’s death that he admitted his thoughts turned suicidal.

Duane visits "Fox & Friends" at Fox Studios in New York City on Aug. 28, 2019. ©Getty Images | Bennett Raglin

“I just hope that I don’t live very much longer without her,” Duane opened up, in footage shot less than 12 hours after Beth’s passing, “because now she made the first step, she’s through the gate.

“She paved a way for me,” he continued through tears. “I want to take a pain pill so bad.”

Duane’s heart-wrenching introspection then deepened somewhat. “I feel like if I did something to myself right now and passed away suicidal, and I got to heaven and was like, ‘Hi honey,’ would she go, ‘You [expletive], why would you do that?’” Duane said.

“Or, would she go, ‘Wow, you’re here.’ I’d be like, ‘Of course I’m here,’” Duane hypothesized, pondering his “obligation” to reunite with the love of his life.

It wasn’t to be the only time that Duane would discuss his diminishing will to live following Beth’s death.

Just 15 days after losing his wife, the bounty hunter accepted an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “You’ve got to really watch it,” he opened up, “these are the times where people go over the edge.”

The TV star admitted losing around 17 pounds (approx. 8 kg) in just two weeks through the stress and heartbreak of his loss. “I’ve got to force feed myself,” he said, “like I force fed her. To keep going.”

Duane and Beth attend the film premiere of "How It all Went Down" at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, California, on Sept. 16, 2003. ©Getty Images | Frederick M. Brown

“I did not know this was going to happen that day,” Duane continued, painfully recalling the day of Beth’s passing. He recounted resuscitating his wife after she had trouble breathing, but it was a short-lived respite; Beth died in her husband’s arms shortly afterward.

At the time, Duane made a heartfelt claim. “I would never commit suicide,” he said, “but I am ready, now, to go.”

Beth was diagnosed with stage two throat cancer in September of 2017 and died on June 26, 2019, at the age of 51.

Just three months later, Duane had another serious encounter with the doctors. This time, however, it was his own health that was under the spotlight.

Duane was suffering from a pulmonary embolism in his heart, meaning that arteries had been blocked by blood flow and his life was potentially in danger. “I’m going through some things psychologically now, so that doesn’t help,” the TV star told KDVR. “I think basically I had a broken heart, and of course it’s going to heal.”

Duane, somewhat reluctantly, sought treatment. It may just have been the call back to life that the widowed bounty hunter needed.

“I hesitated for a minute,” Duane later admitted, speaking to People. “I’m not afraid to die anymore, but I really didn’t care for a while if something would happen.”

Then he added, “I do care now.”