‘American Pickers’ star Mike Wolfe says he held Frank Fritz’s hand when late co-star ‘took his final breath’

“American Pickers” star Mike Wolfe opened up about his last moments with Frank Fritz earlier than his late co-star’s dying.

The 60-year-old TV character and Fritz have been childhood associates who co-hosted the History Channel collection for 10 years and had identified one another for greater than 40 years. 

The two had a falling-out and Fritz stepped away from the present throughout its twenty first season in 2020. However, they have been in a position to mend their friendship earlier than Fritz died from problems of a stroke on the age of 60 in September.

In an interview with People journal, Wolfe recalled how he rushed to be by Fritz’s aspect earlier than his dying.

 “I received the decision that he wasn’t doing nicely. I simply really feel blessed that I used to be in a position to get there,” Wolfe stated.

He continued, “I used to be there for about an hour earlier than he handed, and I used to be holding his hand and rubbing his chest when he took his final breath. I took my fingers and I closed his eyes.”

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Wolfe advised the outlet that he was joined at his late pal’s bedside by his mom and Fritz’s late mom’s finest pal Annette, and recalled the heartfelt last phrases he shared with Fritz earlier than his dying. 

“I simply advised him that I wasn’t mad at him and that I cherished him and that I cared about him a lot,” Wolfe stated. “And then once I may see that he was struggling, I simply stated, ‘Just go discover your mother. Go discover her proper now. Just go discover her.'”

During his interview with People, Wolfe additionally mirrored on his relationship with Fritz, the rift that got here between them and the way they buried the hatchet.

Wolfe recalled that he and Fritz met whereas they have been in center faculty in Iowa and struck up a friendship. 

“He was an especially laborious employee. He was like nobody I’d ever met in my complete life,” Wolfe remembered.

Wolfe advised the outlet that Fritz was the one one that supported him when he got here up with the thought for “American Pickers.”

The actuality present was ultimately green-lit by A&E Networks and Fritz joined Wolfe as his co-star in “American Pickers,” which grew to become an prompt hit when it premiered on the History Channel in January 2010.

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“He was quite a bit like he was on digital camera,” Wolfe recalled of Fritz. “He was very delicate. He was very caring. He was extraordinarily humorous. His sense of comedic timing was unbelievable.” 

“Actually, the crew and myself would at all times inform him that he ought to do stand-up as a result of he was at all times very self-deprecating,” he added.

“He was a kind of guys, irrespective of who we talked to, he may at all times make individuals really feel comfy and allow them to know that they are being heard.”

However, rumors of a feud between the co-hosts started to swirl when Fritz all of the sudden stopped showing on “American Pickers” in 2020.

In a 2021 interview with The Sun, Fritz revealed that he had battled alcoholism earlier than leaving “American Pickers” and stated he hadn’t “talked to Mike in two years.”

“He knew my again was tousled, however he didn’t name me up and ask how I used to be doing,” Fritz stated of Wolfe. “That’s simply how it’s.”

Fritz additionally advised that outlet that he believed “American Pickers” was “tilted in direction of him [Wolfe] 1,000%..”

“I can’t even bend that far down to indicate you the way a lot,” he added. “I’m second and he’s primary on the present.”

“There was plenty of noise. That’s a pleasant strategy to put it,” Wolfe advised People of Fritz’s interview with The Sun. “This is so laborious for me to speak about, as a result of there have been plenty of issues that have been stated that weren’t true, and I at all times continued to hope for him. But sadly, the issues that we would like for somebody… generally [it’s] simply not sufficient, and so they need to need this stuff for themselves.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wolfe advised People that Fritz needed to bear surgical procedure after injuring his again.

“With that point off and him having surgical procedure, it was like the proper storm,” Wolfe stated. “He grew to become hooked on opioids, and that is when the whole lot modified.”

Wolfe stated that he tried to assist Fritz a variety of instances throughout his battle with dependancy. He advised People that he staged an intervention for Fritz together with his late co-star’s household and different shut associates.

Wolfe stated he bumped into Fritz a couple of month after the intervention. “He stated he was simply going to deal with the whole lot on his personal, and I requested him how he was doing. He stated, ‘I’m high quality. I’m high quality. No, I’m actually high quality,'” Wolfe recalled. 

“And then like a month later, he was gone,” he says. “And so watching Frank doing among the issues that he was doing, it was actually laborious.”

Wolfe stated that he nonetheless “fought actually laborious” to persuade Fritz to enter rehab and “by no means, ever gave up” on his pal.

During this time, Wolfe recalled that manufacturing on “American Pickers” resumed. Wolfe advised People that the “community simply lastly made the choice” to proceed with out Fritz as a result of he could not present unfavorable drug checks.

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“They’re identical to, ‘Listen, we’ve to maneuver on. We need to hold going with this,'” Wolfe stated. “I had blended feelings about doing that… and we have been simply attempting to determine what we have been going to do.”

Wolfe stated that he struggled with feeling like “the final man standing” after Fritz’s departure from the present.

“I used to be simply form of left to fend for myself in plenty of methods. I may end his sentences. He may end my sentences,” he says. “I’m a left-handed individual, however with him I felt ambidextrous.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives for A&E Networks for remark.

Wolfe in contrast his rift with Fritz to “dropping a brother,” telling People, “And that is why it was so laborious to listen to him say the issues that he stated.”

“I simply want that he did not need to take care of all of these issues within the shadows,” he added. “We can inform him how a lot we love him, and that we help him and we’re encouraging him, [but] he may simply by no means get it again collectively.”

Despite their falling-out, Wolfe advised People that he and Fritz “by no means disconnected.”

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“I stepped away for slightly as a result of I used to be watching what he was doing, however I nonetheless fought for him to go to rehab and I nonetheless had these conversations,” he stated.

Wolfe continued, “And everyone was like, ‘Well, when his again is healthier… and I’m like, ‘It’s not his again. That’s one factor, however we have to assist heal him, as a result of he wants us proper now.'”

“I by no means stepped away from him utterly,” he added. “That could be unimaginable for me to do. But I watched all of it unfold. I attempted to assist him as finest I may, and we did communicate.”

However, Wolfe stated that he and Fritz later had an emotional reconciliation.

“It was stunning,” Wolfe recalled. “He was fighting dependancy. I understand how judgmental the general public could be. 

He continued, “And in order that’s why once we did find yourself talking once more, it was really easy for me to forgive him as a result of I knew it wasn’t him speaking. It was his dependancy speaking.”

Wolfe advised People that there have been conversations about Fritz’s potential return to “American Pickers” after they mended their rift.

In 2022, Fritz suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. Wolfe advised People he knew then that an on-screen reunion with Fritz “wasn’t ever going to occur” because of his former co-star’s well being struggles.

However, Wolfe stated that their friendship remained sturdy till Fritz’s dying.

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“Once he had the stroke and he went right into a facility, I noticed him so many instances and I used to be in a position to communicate to him very candidly, and really lovingly, about the whole lot that I ever needed to say to him,” Wolfe recalled.

When requested how he needed Fritz to be remembered, Wolfe stated, “He was a lovely, stunning person who, to be sincere with you, who is aware of what our lives would’ve been like if there was by no means a present.”

“I simply need individuals to know who he was,” Wolfe added.