Dog The Bounty Hunter daughter Cecily recalls mom Beth’s dying days and tells how she survived ‘worst year of her life’
DOG The Bounty Hunter's daughter Cecily has spoken for the first time about her mom Beth's tragic final days and revealed her desperate struggle to come to terms with her death.
In a poignant interview to mark the upcoming one year anniversary of Beth's cancer death, Cecily, 26, admitted that some days she could barely get out of bed or leave the house as she struggled with the grief of losing her beloved mother.
Beth died on June 26th 2019 after , aged 51, leaving husband , 12 children and 11 grandchildren - as well as fans - .
Cecily, who says she's only just felt able to talk about the , told how she had no idea that when her mom , she would never come home again.
She spent the next few days at , talking to her and playing her favorite songs - even though Beth was unable to talk.
The family then made the difficult decision to leave the hospital - at the hospital staff's request - so
"I want to do a paddle out during her favorite time, sunset hour, and then before that in the morning I plan on doing a hike and laying flowers in some of her favorite spots," Cecily said.
"I'm going to divide up her friends and her family... so hopefully Lyssa will do her own special hike and then I'll do a special hike.
"It will be a feeling like she's everywhere that day. And then I want to end it out with a paddle in Waimanalo, just get a good group of people to come and join forces and make her feel honored on that day."
Cecily says she hopes the one year anniversary will bring some peace - and finally mark the end of a difficult year.
She said the year had been full of emotional milestones and holidays that she has had to face alone for the first time.
"Hopefully this will be the last day where I'll feel like it's the first of something different," she said.
"Change has been a big factor in this year for me. I never thought in a million years, my whole 26th year would be my worst year of my life - just due to not being with her.
"You know, there's always questions that I wish I had asked before just things about life, taxes, all kinds of things.
"It has definitely been a learning experience and I feel I've had to grow up fast."
Cecily, who is Dog's adopted daughter, says her mom's death sent her into a depression - so bad that sometimes she had no motivation to do anything.
She says she wants to talk about her struggles with grief to help others who have lost a loved one or who are suffering from mental health problems.
"Because we had the funeral in July in Colorado, it kind of gave me the excuse to get out of bed but then when I got home there was maybe a month where I didn't want to leave the house, I didn't want to get out of bed, I didn't want to do anything," Cecily said.
"I didn't feel motivated for anything. And then it came time for me to have to move out of the Hawaii house and that definitely prolonged the time it took until I got back on my feet.
"When I started the For Beth line, I got that kick of motivation again, it gave me a purpose.
"It got me back up and going again but then Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas were very difficult for me because those are some of her favorite holidays...
"I couldn't even handle having a Christmas without her...I'm not going to lie. Christmas was probably my roughest."
She said one of the hardest emotions to deal with was loneliness as she had spent so much time living and working with her mom.
"I tried to keep myself busy constantly with meet and greets and other things. I couldn't be alone," she said.
"My fiance is a plumber, so he works every day. And now that my dad moved to Colorado, I'm pretty much solo every day.
"And so I feel like that took a big toll on me as well, just constantly being alone. It was a constant reminder of being alone and it sucked. It really did.
"It took me a lot to kind of grow out of that. It was depression, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. It was definitely a depression phase.
"I feel like for a minute there I just didn't really care about anything.
"But it started picking up in January, I felt like I was getting a lot better and I was starting to succeed. I felt better about life every day and I was able to wake up and get ready and go through my jobs.
"And then of course COVID-19 came and it was back to being forced to stay inside all the time. And then there was Mother's Day and I just felt this anxiety. To be honest, I probably slept halfway through Mother's Day. I just didn't want to face the day."
For now Cecily says she learnt to take things one day at a time and is hopeful for the future.
She says she's determined to carry on Beth's work helping those in need or going through tough times.
And she'd love to do a TV show again if the chance ever arises.
"My mom was very strong, very empowering - she's an inspiration to a lot of women," Cecily said.
"And doing the For Beth line has blown my mind just to see how many people admired her and loved her and looked up to her.
"And it was such an honor for me to not only gain fans but gain her fans.
"She took care of me my whole life and I just want everybody to have a little piece of her.
She added: "And of course I love bounty hunting and I miss being with my dad and the team so if we ever did TV again I would absolutely love to be a part of that.
"I don't ever regret doing the show."