“American Pickers” star Mike Wolfe opened up about his closing moments with Frank Fritz earlier than his late co-star’s dying.
The 60-year-old TV persona and Fritz have been childhood buddies who co-hosted the Historical past Channel sequence for 10 years and had identified 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 problems of a stroke on the age of 60 in September.
In an interview with Folks 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 closing moments together with his late co-star Frank Fritz. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Photographs)
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 informed 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 closing phrases he shared with Fritz earlier than his dying.
“I simply informed him that I wasn’t mad at him and that I cherished him and that I cared about him a lot,” Wolfe mentioned. “After which once I might 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 Folks, 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 because of problems from a stroke. (Getty Photographs)
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 arduous employee. He was like nobody I might ever met in my complete life,” Wolfe remembered.
Wolfe informed the outlet that Fritz was the one one who supported him when he got here up with the thought for “American Pickers.”
The truth present was finally 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 lots like he was on digicam,” Wolfe recalled of Fritz. “He was very delicate. He was very caring. He was extraordinarily humorous. His sense of comedic timing was unbelievable.”
“Really, 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 might at all times make folks really feel snug and allow them to know that they are being heard.”
Wolfe and Fritz co-hosted “American Pickers” for 10 years. (Getty Photographs)
Nevertheless, rumors of a feud between the co-hosts started to swirl when Fritz immediately 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 informed that outlet that he believed “American Pickers” was “tilted in the direction of him [Wolfe] 1,000%..”
“I can’t even bend that far down to indicate you ways a lot,” he added. “I’m second and he’s primary on the present.”
“There was a number of noise. That is a pleasant approach to put it,” Wolfe informed Folks of Fritz’s interview with The Solar. “That is so arduous for me to speak about, as a result of there have been a number of issues that have been mentioned that weren’t true, and I at all times continued to wish for him. However sadly, the issues that we wish for somebody… generally [it’s] simply not sufficient, and so they should need this stuff for themselves.”
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Wolfe informed People who Fritz needed to endure surgical procedure after injuring his again.
“With that point off and him having surgical procedure, it was like the proper 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 informed People who he staged an intervention for Fritz together with his late co-star’s household and different shut buddies.
Fritz immediately stopped showing on the present in 2020. (CHANCE YEH/Patrick McMullan through Getty Photographs)
Wolfe mentioned he bumped into Fritz a few 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 a few of the issues that he was doing, it was actually arduous.”
Wolfe mentioned that he nonetheless “fought actually arduous” to persuade Fritz to enter rehab and “by no means, ever gave up” on his pal.
Throughout this time, Wolfe recalled that manufacturing on “American Pickers” resumed. Wolfe informed People who the “community simply lastly made the choice” to proceed with out Fritz as a result of he could not present adverse drug assessments.
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“They’re similar to, ‘Hear, now we have to maneuver on. We now have 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 a number of methods. I might end his sentences. He might end my sentences,” he says. “I am a left-handed particular person, 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. (Photograph by Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic)
Wolfe in contrast his rift with Fritz to “dropping a brother,” telling Folks, “And that is why it was so arduous to listen to him say the issues that he mentioned.”
“I simply want that he did not should cope with all of these issues within the shadows,” he added. “We are able to inform him how a lot we love him, and that we help him and we’re encouraging him, [but] he might simply by no means get it again collectively.”
Regardless of their falling-out, Wolfe informed People who he and Fritz “by no means disconnected.”
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“I stepped away for a little bit 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 everyone was like, ‘Effectively, when his again is best… 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 inconceivable for me to do. However I watched all of it unfold. I attempted to assist him as finest I might, and we did communicate.”
Wolfe was by Fritz’s aspect when his pal handed away. (Getty Photographs)
Nevertheless, Wolfe mentioned that he and Fritz later had an emotional reconciliation.
“It was stunning,” Wolfe recalled. “He was battling dependancy. I understand how judgmental the general public will 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 informed Folks 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 informed Folks 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.
Nevertheless, Wolfe mentioned that their friendship remained sturdy 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 fantastic, stunning individual that, 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 folks to know who he was,” Wolfe added.
