Millions of people have followed Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman, 66, and his family as they’ve grieved the loss of their matriarch, Beth, who died of lung cancer in June of 2019. Now, Duane 'Dog' Chapman find himself facing intense scrutiny over whether he’s found new love.
With three words, "Thank you MOON!!!" and a photo posted on Instagram, the still-grieving ‘Dog’ set off speculation about his relationship with Moon Angell, long-time assistant to his wife, Beth. When she spotted the twosome looking cozy together, Chapman’s daughter Lyssa took to Twitter to express her outrage and defend the memory of her beloved stepmother:
“It’s Not When Or Why, It’s Who”
Read MoreNot Somebody Who Showed Up Yesterday
Moon Angell and Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman have known each other for 30 years, according to a family source. As Beth Champman’s longtime assistant, she now helps ‘Dog’ Chapman everything from household tasks to cooking. As a source close to the family told ET online, Moon Angell “is not somebody who showed up yesterday.”
As quickly as Lyssa Chapman’s tweet stoked romance rumors, they were quashed by a source close to the family. "Moon has been a family friend to Beth and Dog for years," the source says. "Since Beth's death, she has stepped in to help Dog in his time of need. There will never be another Beth."
Amid speculation, Duane reiterated that he and Angell were just friends though an exclusive statement to Radar. Nonetheless, Duane has been open about battling a deep sense of loneliness since his wife lost her battle with cancer.
There Will Never Be Another Mrs. ‘Dog’
"Beth [and I] talked about death,” he told Radar, and I'd say, 'you know Beth, I'll never get married and I'll never have a girlfriend again.' She's like 'shut up. You will too. You need a woman beside you.’"
"I'm the kind of guy that has to have a woman around me. There will never another Mrs. Dog," a choked up Duane continued. "But I have to find a way to move on. I'm so lonely right now. I'm just really lonely."
As quickly as Lyssa Chapman’s post stoked romance rumors, they were quashed by a source close to the family. "Moon has been a family friend to Beth and Dog for years," the source says. "Since Beth's death, she has stepped in to help Dog in his time of need. There will never be another Beth."
The furor inspired an outpouring of support for the reality star. Fans like denvergal71__ responded with compassion “If your happy…WE'RE happy!! ♥︔ Septembercindy25 shared what many grieving spouse-survivors hear: Who gave the time limit on how long a spouse should be deceased before one starts living again? I thing Dog has been through enough and although he will always love â¤ï¸ Beth she will never physically be back. He can't go on forever alone. It will be sometime and some woman and he has to be the one to decide when and whom he's ready to move on to the next chapter in his life with. It's ok Dog you go on and find some happiness. ????â¤ï¸
But a snarky comment from the unnamed kitty_katt63 “You’ve gone public…Congrats” suggests that at least one fan suspects the two had been keeping their relationship under wraps.
SurvivorNet Talked to ‘Dog’ Chapman
In a recent interview with SurvivorNet, Dog spoke in depth about the grieving process explaining that he's still trying to figure out what to do with his feelings. He still feels lonely, and he doesn't understand why Beth was taken from him.
"I'm still trying to find out what to tell my fans, and my brothers and sisters across America about how they can get through it," Dog told SurvivorNet. "I still am not there yet… It's going to take me some time to find that out."
Beth passed away at age 51 on June 26 after a battle with stage 4 lung cancer. Her first diagnosis came in 2017, when she was diagnosed with stage 2 throat cancer. She was treated at the time and declared cancer-free. However, her cancer returned at the end of 2018 and by that time it had progressed to stage four, and spread to her lungs.
RELATED: Changes In The World Of Lung Cancer Over The Past Twenty Years
While Beth was alive, she remained relatively private about how her disease was being treated, if at all. Dog confirmed after she passed that she had attempted chemotherapy, but decided to stop because her tumors were not responding to treatments, and she began experiencing really difficult side effects. Her loss of appetite was so extreme that the TV star lost nearly 50 pounds. Dog confirmed that the family backed her 100% when she decided to stop chemotherapy, and said that she chose to have a better quality life, instead of a longer one.
Palliative care is about quality of life says Dr. Raja Flores, Chairman of Thoracic Surgery at the Mount Sinai Medical Center.
In losing Beth, Dog lost his wife of 13 years, his bounty-hunting business partner, his reality television co-star, the mother figure to their combined 12 children, and the matriarch of their larger-than-life family. The loss has left Dog, who is 66 years old, devastated, angry, confused, and lonelybut it's also given him another mission.
"You wanna make it where this doesn't happen to other people? You wanna give your loved one a legacy to fall back on? Get out there and talk to anybody."
Dog is out here, and he's talkinga lot. He's sharing the raw and painful details that many people keep to themselves when they talk about cancer. And Dog's new reality TV spinoff series, "Dog's Most Wanted," which will air September 4 on WGN America, will chronicle Beth's cancer journey with a level of intimacy and transparency that hasn't yet made it to TV.
Broken Heart Syndrome?
Duane Dog Chapman has faced his own health concerns since the death of his wife, Beth. In September, after reporting chest pains, doctors discovered. A scan revealed a pulmonary embolism, a blockage in the arteries of the lungs. It's a very dangerous condition and Dog was instructed to make significant changes to his lifestyle. The new revelations came as Dog talked publicly to Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show.” The show’s digital publication, The Wrap, reports that "Dr. Oz goes over lung scan results with the reality TV personality and reveals how bad the blockage was to one of Chapman's arteries to his lungs, and even suggests more testing right there on the stage in front of the audience. "It really alarmed me and I was fearful of this," Oz tells Chapman.
At the time of his health scare, Dog said the pains were caused by a "broken heart." Just three months after Beth died of complications from throat cancer that came back in her lungs, he was still, understandably, struggling.
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