‘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 Historical past Channel sequence for 10 years and had recognized one another for greater than 40 years. 

The 2 had a falling-out and Fritz stepped away from the present throughout its twenty first season in 2020. Nevertheless, they have been in a position to mend their friendship earlier than Fritz died from issues of a stroke on the age of 60 in September.

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

 “I obtained 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 mentioned.

“American Pickers” star Mike Wolfe recalled his last moments along with his late co-star Frank Fritz. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Photos)

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 instructed the outlet that he was joined at his late good friend’s bedside by his mom and Fritz’s late mom’s greatest good friend Annette, and recalled the heartfelt last phrases he shared with Fritz earlier than his dying. 

“I simply instructed him that I wasn’t mad at him and that I beloved him and that I cared about him a lot,” Wolfe mentioned. “After which once I may see that he was struggling, I simply mentioned, ‘Simply go discover your mother. Go discover her proper now. Simply go discover her.'”

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

Fritz died final month on the age of 60 as a consequence of issues from a stroke. (Getty Photos)

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

“He was an especially onerous employee. He was like nobody I might ever met in my entire life,” Wolfe remembered.

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

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

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“He was rather a lot 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.” 

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

“He was a type of guys, irrespective of who we talked to, he may all the time make individuals really feel snug and allow them to know that they are being heard.”

Wolfe and Fritz co-hosted “American Pickers” for 10 years. (Getty Photos)

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

In a 2021 interview with The Solar, Fritz revealed that he had battled alcoholism earlier than leaving “American Pickers” and mentioned 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 mentioned of Wolfe. “That’s simply how it’s.”

Fritz additionally instructed 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 lots of noise. That is a pleasant strategy to put it,” Wolfe instructed Individuals of Fritz’s interview with The Solar. “That is so onerous for me to speak about, as a result of there have been lots of issues that have been mentioned that weren’t true, and I all the time continued to wish for him. However sadly, the issues that we wish for somebody… typically [it’s] simply not sufficient, and so they must need this stuff for themselves.”

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wolfe instructed Those that Fritz needed to bear surgical procedure after injuring his again.

“With that point off and him having surgical procedure, it was like the right storm,” Wolfe mentioned. “He turned hooked on opioids, and that is when every little thing modified.”

Wolfe mentioned that he tried to assist Fritz quite a lot of occasions throughout his battle with dependancy. He instructed Those that he staged an intervention for Fritz along with his late co-star’s household and different shut associates.

Fritz instantly stopped showing on the present in 2020. (CHANCE YEH/Patrick McMullan through Getty Photos)

Wolfe mentioned he bumped into Fritz a couple of month after the intervention. “He mentioned he was simply going to deal with every little thing on his personal, and I requested him how he was doing. He mentioned, ‘I am high quality. I am high quality. No, I am actually high quality,'” Wolfe recalled. 

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

Wolfe mentioned that he nonetheless “fought actually onerous” to persuade Fritz to enter rehab and “by no means, ever gave up” on his good friend.

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

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“They’re similar to, ‘Pay attention, we’ve got to maneuver on. We have now to maintain going with this,'” Wolfe mentioned. “I had blended feelings about doing that… and we have been simply attempting to determine what we have been going to do.”

Wolfe mentioned 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 lots of methods. I may end his sentences. He may end my sentences,” he says. “I am a left-handed individual, however with him I felt ambidextrous.”

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

The 2 had a falling-out however later mended their friendship. (Picture by Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic)

Wolfe in contrast his rift with Fritz to “shedding a brother,” telling Individuals, “And that is why it was so onerous to listen to him say the issues that he mentioned.”

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

Regardless of their falling-out, Wolfe instructed Those that he and Fritz “by no means disconnected.”

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“I stepped away for somewhat 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 mentioned.

Wolfe continued, “And all people was like, ‘Effectively, when his again is healthier… and I am like, ‘It is not his again. That is 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 fully,” he added. “That will be unattainable for me to do. However I watched all of it unfold. I attempted to assist him as greatest I may, and we did communicate.”

Wolfe was by Fritz’s aspect when his good friend handed away. (Getty Photos)

Nevertheless, Wolfe mentioned that he and Fritz later had an emotional reconciliation.

“It was lovely,” Wolfe recalled. “He was battling dependancy. I understand how judgmental the general public might 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 instructed Individuals 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 instructed Individuals he knew then that an on-screen reunion with Fritz “wasn’t ever going to occur” as a consequence of his former co-star’s well being struggles.

Nevertheless, Wolfe mentioned that their friendship remained robust till Fritz’s dying.

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“As soon as he had the stroke and he went right into a facility, I noticed him so many occasions and I used to be in a position to communicate to him very candidly, and really lovingly, about every little thing that I ever wished to say to him,” Wolfe recalled.

When requested how he wished Fritz to be remembered, Wolfe mentioned, “He was a stupendous, lovely individual that, to be trustworthy 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.