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Dog the Bounty Hunter's Daughter Bonnie Chapman Reveals the Secret to Her 60-Pound Weight Loss
'Tis the season to be jolly, but sometimes Bonnie Chapman doesn't have it in her to fa la la la fake the spirit.
Embracing the holiday her mom Beth Chapman adored, more than five years after the Dog the Bounty Hunter star died following a battle with throat cancer, "is really bittersweet," the 25-year-old admitted in an exclusive interview with E! News. "Because it's Christmastime, but it's Christmastime without someone who was a monumental part of my life. So trying to find little happinesses here and there while dealing with that, it's a balance."
Which means sometimes she'll be tooling around her Illinois town eagerly seeking out the church windows her mom—who was married to fellow bounty hunter Duane Chapman for 13 years—loved so much and other times she finds herself struggling as she recalls vivid memories of Beth painstakingly putting together so many seasons to remember.
And when she's feeling particularly sad that her mom won't be home for Christmas, she indulges that grief.
"I think being honest with your emotions is the best thing to do," she noted. "If you just stuff them away, they're just going to stockpile and you don't want to be that person that keeps everything inside because it's detrimental to you. I'd rather wear my heart on my sleeve than keep it guarded and have it piled up with so many emotions that have been sitting there and brewing under the surface."
Bonnie Chapman/Instagram
And she has fond memories of decking the halls with her "extreme giver" of a mom.
Their Christmases "were no joke," Bonnie shared. "It made me and my siblings always feel so loved because she remembered everything we said we wanted throughout the years. She just put so much thought into us kids. And I wish I could have told her how much I love that."
Instead, Bonnie has looked for new ways to communicate with the Denver native.
"I get little glimpses of her here and there, like certain smells and certain things people do, say, or wear," said Bonnie. For instance, if she spots a Michael Kors purse in the wild, "I'm like, 'Oh, my mom would love that,'" she shared. Or when she catches a whiff of gardenias, "I'm like, 'Oh, that's Mom.' There are so many things in nature as well. If I see a butterfly, sometimes I'm like, 'Oh, hi, Mom, how are you doing?'"
To this day, said Bonnie, her mom continues to be the wind beneath her wings.
"I like to honor her memory by never really letting myself forget and always reminding people who she was," Bonnie said of her mother, who trained as a gymnast and an ice skater before becoming a bounty hunter. "I don't think I'll ever shut up about her because she was my mom, she was the woman who gave me life. And the very least I can do is remember her and the memories that she's brought into this world."
Because for all that the reality star accomplished, Bonnie would wager her greatest legacy would be the idea Beth instilled into her and sister Cecily Barmore that well-behaved women seldom make history.
"That's something she had on her mirror," Bonnie recalled of the quote that's been attributed to more than a few female icons. "And that's something that I always think to myself. She was historical in my books. I mean, she was my mother, but there were so many people that looked up to her."
So whenever Bonnie finds herself facing a new challenge, "I think, 'What would Beth do?'" she reflected. "That's really helped me stand up for myself in situations."
And in her mom's honor, she continued, "I want to be remembered just like she is and thought of as someone that brought a lot of light into this world. Things are so dark, that I want to be a beacon for people and she set the standard for that."
And Beth wasn't alone in the teachings she left her kids. See the lessons other famous moms hope to bestow upon their own daughters.
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Kerry Washington
Living an existence that's unapologetically them? It's handled for the Little Fires Everywhere actress's three kids: Isabelle, Caleb, and a daughter from husband Nnamdi Asomugha's previous relationship. Asked the top lesson she hopes to pass on to her daughters, the star told E! News' Francesca Amiker at the 2023 NAACP Image Awards, "I want my girls to just be unapologetically who they are. You know? To just feel like they can be who they are in the truth of all that they are."
Instagram / Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff
Hey now, hey now, raising strong AF daughters is what the actress' dreams are made of. "I just want them to know their power and to know that they things that we can handle are incredible," the How I Met Your Father star told E! News of Banks, Mae and Townes, her girls with husband Matthew Koma. (She's also mom to son Luca with ex Mike Comrie.) "I'm trying to set up a great area for them to thrive and grow, but I just fully want them to be who they want to be and who they're meant to be. No apologies."
Hoda Kotb
She has Hope, she has Haley Joy, now all the Today Show anchor wants is for her girls to find their bliss. "I just want them to be happy," the Making Space With Hoda Kotb host told E! News' Amiker. "I don't want anything else."
And while she noted those who crave money will always seek out that next high-paying gig, people who need romantic relationships will always worry that love can be taken away. "I just want my kids to know that everything good comes from inside," she explained. "They will be their happiest if they realize that it's all inside there."
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Angela Bassett
Dare we say the Oscar nominee did the thing when asked to share her top parenting lesson? "Your voice matters," the mom to twins Bronwyn and Slater (with husband Courtney B. Vance) told E! News at the 2023 NAACP Image Awards. "So speak out. Speak up, and speak out."
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Sheryl Lee Ralph
With a front-row seat to her mom's cunning advice, we're going to assume Ivy-Victoria has an entire notebook's worth of wisdom. But the Abbott Elementary star hopes this piece stands out. "It takes a very special man to breathe the air that she breathes," she recounted to E! News at the NAACP Image Awards. "Know your worth my child, don't just settle for just anything, but meet someone of equal yoke. So that you can carry on with the legacy of excellence that our ancestors want for us."
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Dania Ramirez
Never discount the power of the lessons you learned in kindergarten. When it comes to bringing up twins Gaia and John, the Once Upon a Time alum is "a big believer on this one quote: 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,'" she shared with E! News at the VIP opening of the LA Art Show. "And I know that it's really old school, but that's something that I really want them to really internalize."
The OG phrase works in tandem with the other message she delivers "every single morning," she said, "that what the world thinks of you is none of your business. It's what you think of yourself that matters."
Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt
We're predicting a lot of bedtime readings of Good Night, Sister in her girls' future. Because the author turned the message she hopes to impress upon daughters Lyla and Eloise (with husband Chris Pratt), into a children's book that celebrates "sisterhood and the bond we have with our siblings, friends and parents from an early age," she told E! News. "I grew up being told there is nothing more important than family and I was shown that by my parents. My mom [Maria Shriver] is incredibly close to her brothers and my extended family is very close and shows up for each other always."
Raised in a tight-knit family that includes brothers Christopher and Patrick Schwarzenegger and 19 months younger sister Christina Schwarzenegger, she was shown "no matter what you go through in life, your family will have your back," continued the star, also mom to son Ford with Pratt, which "is why I am so passionate about spreading the message of sisterhood and family to children, especially my own."
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Chelsea Houska
Count on the Teen Mom alum's dad Randy to come through with the sage wisdom. "For my daughters, I hope I pass on the lesson to always take the high road," the mom to Aubree, Watson, Layne, and Walker shared with E! News. "It was something my dad always told me when I was growing up. There would be times I wanted to stoop down to someone's level or react to certain things, but he always would just tell me to take the high road."
The Down Home Fab star—wed to fellow HGTV host Cole DeBoer—credits the advice with helping her build her dream life. "I truly attribute a lot of where I've ended up in life to that lesson that I learned from him," she explained. "It always pays off to be a good person and karma is very real. Be a good person and focus on the positive."
Vanessa Lachey
Vanessa Lachey
A teaching we'll raise an opaque wine glass to: "The biggest lesson I hope to pass on to Brooklyn is confidence," the Love Is Blind host told E! News of her daughter. "Her knowing at a young age how incredible she is."
Once she's mastered that self-assuredness, continued the NCIS: Hawaii actress, also mom to sons Camden and Phoenix with husband Nick Lachey, "she can spend more time in her life following her dreams, making impactful mindful decisions and living her best happy life...however she defines that."
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