On May 4, 2020, less than a year after he lost his wife Beth Chapman to cancer, Duane “Dog” Chapman became engaged to his girlfriend Francie Frane.
The couple announced their proposal through an exclusive interview with The Sun. Dog popped the question in a candlelit room at his home in Colorado and Francie said it was completely unexpected.
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The announcement came as a surprise to fans, who had recently learned that Francie and Dog had only been dating a couple of months before going public in early April.
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After you hear the story of how they met, it makes much more sense why and how they connected. Frane lost her husband to cancer as well, shortly before Beth passed away. Her late husband actually owned an excavating company that Chapman had used a few times. You can read more about their story here.
After over a year of being engaged, the couple has finally set a wedding date…and it’s sooner that you think!
Frane gave us a clue that a date was set when she posted a photo from a wedding dress boutique and wrote, “Say Yes To The Dress.”
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In a new interview on the Two Guys From Hollywood podcast, Chapman told the hosts, literary agent Alan Nevins and celebrity chef and columnist Joey Santos, that his wedding to Frane will take place on September 2! He admitted that revealed the date might get him in trouble with his bride-to-be, but let the date slip anyway.
This will be Chapman’s sixth marriage and Frane’s second. Chapman has previously said, “I don’t know if people understand this, but Francie and I are not having a wedding, we’re going to have a marriage,” he said. “We already had a wedding, both of us in our lives, and they’ll never be another like the one we both had.”
You can listen to the full podcast episode here.
The wedding is less than two weeks away and two of Chapman’s daughters have just revealed that they have not been invited.
“I wasn’t invited to my father’s wedding,” Bonnie told TMZ in a virtual interview. “And I’m not completely sure why I wasn’t.“
Though, Cecily does have an inkling. She believes that she and her sister remind their father too much of their late mom, Beth who died in 2019 after a battle with throat cancer.
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Their other siblings scored invites to the upcoming nuptials. See Bonnie and Cecily’s interviews here. Bonnie also told TMZ that her involvement with Unleashed TV, which cancelled a show they had with her dad before the first episode even aired, is the reason for her not being invited.
She also gave TMZ a screenshot of a text message she received from Francie, which in part read, “So let’s not beat around the bush, You & Cecily both know You haven’t been invited to the wedding because your (sic) living under the same roof with people who stabbed (him), robbed, lied, manipulated, smeared his name and tried to ruin his career.“
Francie continued, “You and Cecily have chosen to align yourselves with this and my job is to AT ALL COSTS protect your dad!!! I love you Bonnie, And I truly hope with all my heart that You and Cecily find what your searching for and find happiness, true happiness in your life.”
Dog told TMZ that he thinks Bonnie is just trying to “derail” his wedding. He also said he believes they are being “groomed” by his former employers. Bonnie thinks her dad has taken issue with her because she works on the show The System, which focuses on racial justice and supporting Black Lives Matter, which her father apparently doesn’t agree with.
He ended his statement by saying, “Please pray for Bonnie and Cecily to be released from whatever hold these people have on them. Despite the sadness, we feel at this rift in our family, Francie and I are looking forward to celebrating our wedding next week with the rest of our family and close friends.”