Love is in the air once again for Duane “Dog” Chapman.
The reality star is engaged to Francie Frane.
“They’re very happy and looking forward to a long life together,” a rep for the “Dog the Bounty Hunter” star confirmed to TODAY.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Frane told The Sun U.S. about the proposal, which took place at their Colorado home.
“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.'”
The magic moment then took place.
“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?’ Who can say no to that? It was wonderful,” she said.
The couple hopes to tie the knot after the quarantine ends and Chapman hopes to share the big day with fans, as well as family and friends.
“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. It would be one hell of a party and it’s just what people need right now.”
Chapman, 67, and Frane, 51, met after Chapman left a message for her late husband asking him to help with some home improvement, unaware that he had died. Frane returned his message, which started a friendship that eventually blossomed into a romance.
Chapman’s wife of 12 years, Beth, passed away last June at the age of 51. In August, he told People that while he was open to getting involved with someone else, he would not marry again.
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.
— Duane Dog Chapman (@DogBountyHunter) June 26, 2019
“I probably will do that, and I told her that,” Chapman said. “What deal we said is I will never take ‘Beth’ off my chest, I have her name here. And I will never get married.”
Critics may think the couple is rushing into marriage, but they’re OK with that.
“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,” Frane said.
“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.”
“And you know there’s always going to be haters, and I probably arrested half of them,” Chapman said.
Chapman, who has 12 children, has been married five times.