Kim Fields is explaining her role in the late Beth Chapman's memorial service taking place on Saturday in Colorado.
Kim Fields is explaining her role in the late Beth Chapman's memorial service taking place on Saturday in Colorado.
ET spoke with the 50-year-old Facts of Life star on Thursday, after TMZ reported that the actress -- who is a member of the church that Chapman attended, Heritage Christian Center -- was coordinating the memorial service, given her experience in show business. Chapman's memorial is expected to draw thousands and will stream on WGNAmerica.com beginning at 12 p.m. PT.
However, Fields clarified that the part she's playing in Chapman's memorial service is actually already a part of her established role within the church.
"In the name of service, we have different roles that we are executing," Fields explains to ET. "That being said, my role here at the church is leading up visual and social media and content. ... Of course, any time there is service here at the church, I spearhead an awesome team that's responsible for everything that goes on camera, as well as the streaming. So, when those components got pulled into the Chapman service, that's me and my department. That is all."
"I can honestly tell you that the real champion and planner in all this is pastor Michele Leonard," she adds. " ... I'm facilitating the livestream, and that's really the extent of it, which also coincides with what everyone will be seeing on screens, inside of the sanctuary as well as the overflow areas."
The former Real Housewives of Atlanta star will not be able to attend Chapman's service because she'll be attending an event at the James Brown Academy of Musik Pupils in Augusta, Georgia. She does, however, have a heartfelt message to Chapman's family still grieving her loss.
"The thing to remember is that it's a process, whether it's unexpected and you feel like it's been snatched from you, or whether it was a very difficult season of pain, discomfort or whatever," she says. "Now that you're on the other side of it, know that it's a process. Know that you are now in the season of establishing new norms because the regular life that you knew is now different, and understand that peace does come."
Chapman died on June 26 at the age of 51 after a battle with cancer. ET spoke with her husband, Dog the Bounty Hunter star Duane "Dog" Chapman, on Wednesday at his home in Colorado, where he talked about still grieving her death.
"I haven't gotten past the place where I'm still putting a pillow where she was, and covering it up, like the jailhouse escape, right?" he said of having a difficult time letting go of old habits. "I mean it. And then I wake up in the middle of the night and I see her and it doesn't register that ain't her. I'm still there."
"[With any] new experience that you have, you don't know how you're doing because you've never experienced it," he also said. "I have a lot of people who depend on me. All my supervisors said, 'Dog, it's time to man up.' So I'm trying to man up."
Watch the video below for more:
-- Reporting by Brendon Geoffrion
RELATED CONTENT:
