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

Star of the TV series “American Pickers” Mike Wolf spoke about his last moments with Frank Fritz before his late colleague’s death.

The 60-year-old TV personality and Fritz were childhood friends who co-hosted the History Channel series for 10 years and knew each other for more than 40 years.

The two had a falling out and Fritz left the show during its 21st season in 2020. However, they were able to repair their friendship before Fritz died from complications of a stroke at the age of 60 in September.

In an interview with magazine “People” Wolfe recalled how he rushed to be at Fritz’s side before his death.

“They called me and told me that things were going badly for him. I’m just happy I was able to get there,” Wolfe said.

He continued: “I was there for about an hour before he left and I held his hand and rubbed his chest as he took his last breath. I took my fingers and closed his eyes.”

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Wolfe told the publication that he was joined at his late friend’s bedside by his mother and Fritz’s late mother’s best friend Annette, and recalled the heartfelt last words he shared with Fritz beforehand. his death.

“I just told him I’m not mad at him, that I love him and I care about him very much,” Wolfe said. “And then when I saw him struggling, I just said, ‘Just find your mom. Find her now. Just find her.”

During the interview with People, Wolfe also reflected on his relationship with Fritz, the rift that arose between them, and how they buried the hatchet.

Wolfe recalled that he and Fritz met while attending high school in Iowa and became friends.

“He was an extremely hard worker. He was unlike anyone I had ever met in my entire life,” Wolfe recalled.

Wolfe told the publication that Fritz was the only person who supported him when he came up with the idea for American Pickers.

The reality show was eventually greenlit by A&E Networks, with Fritz joining Wolfe as his co-star in American Pickers, which became an instant hit when it premiered on the History Channel in January 2010.

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“He looked a lot like the guy on camera,” Wolfe recalled of Fritz. “He was very sensitive. He was very caring. He was extremely funny. His sense of comedic timing was incredible.”

“In fact, the crew and I always told him that he should do stand-up because he was always very self-deprecating,” he added.

“He was one of those guys that no matter who we talked to, he could always make people feel comfortable and let them know they were being heard.”

However, rumors of a feud between the co-hosts began to swirl when Fritz suddenly stopped appearing on American Pickers in 2020.

In a 2021 interview with The Sun, Fritz revealed that he battled alcoholism before leaving American Pickers and said he “didn’t talk to Mike for two years.”

“He knew I had a back injury, but he didn’t call me and ask how I was doing,” Fritz said of Wolfe. “That’s just the way it is.”

Fritz also told this publication that he believes American Pickers is “leaning 1,000% on him (Wolf).”

“I can’t even bend down enough to show you how hard it is,” he added. “I’m number two and he’s number one on the show.”

“There was a lot of noise. That’s a good way to put it,” Wolfe told People of Fritz in The Sun newspaper. “It’s so hard for me to talk about it because a lot of things were said that weren’t true and I always kept praying for him. But unfortunately, what we want for someone… sometimes (it’s) just not enough and they have to want it all for themselves.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wolfe told People magazine that Fritz had to undergo surgery after injuring his back.

“With that break and surgery, it was like a perfect storm,” Wolfe said. “He became addicted to opioids and that’s when everything changed.”

Wolfe said he tried several times to help Fritz during his fight against addiction. He told People that he organized the intervention for Fritz along with his late colleague’s family and other close friends.

Wolfe said he confronted Fritz about a month after the intervention. “He said he was going to handle everything on his own, and I asked him how he was doing. He replied: “I’m fine. I’m fine. No, I’m really fine,” Wolfe recalls.

“And then, about a month later, it disappeared,” he says. “And so watching Frank do some of the things that he did was really hard.”

Wolfe said he still “fought very hard” to convince Fritz to do so. enter the rehabilitation center and “never, ever gave up” on his friend.

At this time, Wolfe recalled that production of “American Pickers” had resumed. Wolfe told People that “the network just finally made the decision” to continue without Fritz because he was unable to provide negative drug tests.

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“They were just like, ‘Look, we need to move on. We have to keep it up,” Wolfe said. “I had mixed feelings about it… and we were just trying to figure out what we were going to do.”

Wolfe said he struggled with feeling like the “last man standing” after Fritz left the show.

“I just had to fend for myself in a lot of ways. I could finish his sentences. He could finish my sentences,” he says. “I’m left-handed, but with him I felt ambidextrous.”

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

Wolfe compared his rift with Fritz to “losing a brother,” telling People magazine, “And that’s why it was so hard to hear him say what he said.”

“I just wish he didn’t have to deal with all this stuff in the shadows,” he added. “We can tell him how much we love him, that we support him and encourage him, (but) he just can never get it together again.”

Despite their falling out, Wolfe told People magazine that he and Fritz “never broke up.”

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“I stepped away for a while because I was watching what he was doing, but I was still fighting for him to go to rehab and still having those conversations,” he said.

Wolfe continued: “And everyone was like, ‘Well, when his back gets better… and I was like, ‘It’s not his back. That’s one thing, but we need to help heal him because he needs us right now.” .'”

“I never completely walked away from it,” he added. “For me it would be impossible. But I watched it all unfold. I tried to help him as much as I could and we talked.”

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

“It was wonderful,” Wolfe recalled. “He struggled with addiction. I know how judgmental the public can be.

He continued, “And that’s why when we talked again, it was so easy for me to forgive him, because I knew it wasn’t him saying it. It was his addiction talking.”

Wolfe told People magazine that there had been talk of Fritz potentially returning to American Pickers after they patched up their rift.

In 2022 Fritz suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. Wolfe told People that he knew at the time that an on-screen reunion with Fritz would “never happen” due to his former co-star’s health problems.

However, Wolfe said their friendship remained strong until Fritz’s death.

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“After he had his stroke and was in the hospital, I saw him many times and was able to talk to him very openly and with a lot of love about everything I ever wanted to tell him,” Wolfe recalls.

When asked how he would like Fritz to be remembered, Wolfe responded, “He was a beautiful, wonderful man, and honestly, who knows what our lives would have been like if the show had never happened.”

“I just want people to know who he was,” Wolfe added.