Though it might have gone under your radar, Dog the Bounty Hunter is engaged. Surely this would be front page news in a world without COVID-19.
A rep for Dog, whose real name is Duane Chapman, confirmed this personal development to E! News on Monday by stating that the 67-year-old reality star has, indeed, proposed to Francie Frane and she accepted.
"They're very happy and looking forward to a long life together," that spokesperson said to the outlet.
Details on the type of wedding Dog wants and how he popped the question are available over at E!
Anyway, as is the focus of this write-up, this engagement comes three months after rumors that the famed bounty hunter had been engaged to a woman named Moon Angell. Those rumors turned out to be bogus. It's also coming 10 months after his wife, Beth Chapman, died after battling cancer. That happened in June 2019.
This engagement news has apparently drawn derision from fans who intersect on the Venn diagram of 'people who care about celebrity relationships' and 'people who tell widows/widowers when it's okay to date/marry again.' In fairness, we didn't find too many comments calling out Dog (didn't look super hard either) but there was enough of an outcry that his daughter, Bonnie Chapman, posted a lengthy comment to address fans who think her dad's a jerk for moving on so quickly.
Chapman noted that she's "very thankful for those who are supportive," but after getting that out of the way she addressed "those who want to criticize" by asking that they "just let my father live in peace."
"Let him be happy, please for the love of God let him be," she wrote in the comments of a post we'll embed below. "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. My father deserves to be happy. He's still got my mother's name on his chest. He'll never forget her and the love she gave him. She would be happy my father is in love and finding peace."
Bonnie went on to ask those opting to criticize to "please keep your comments to yourself."
"And if you can't, then it reflects more on you than him," she continued. "Life has never been easy for my dad, but love is something that comes naturally to him."
She wasn't done there.
"Life is filled with so much sorrow and hurt, in times like this is when love is found unexpected," she added. "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. There is always going to be one and only one Mrs. Dog. Welcome to the pack, Francie."
Here's the comment in full:
E! adds that a commenter alleged that Dog's late wife's "one wish was that [Dog] would not remarry."
To that Bonnie had a response.
"This is something we all talked about, her feelings changed as her condition worsened," Bonnie said. "We all thought she'd have more time, she put her full faith in God, but her time with us wasn't as long as we expected. My mother wanted my dad to be happy at all costs. There will never be another Mrs. Dog, but there can be a Mrs. Chapman."
The responses came off of this post that Dog used to announce the news on his own Instagram:
