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“American Pickers” Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz attend the grand opening of the History Pop Shop at the History Pop Shop on December 6, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic)

The ‘American Pickers’ star Mike Wolfe spoke about his final moments with Frank Fritz before his late co-star’s death.

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

The two had a falling out and Fritz walked away from the series 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 years in September.

In an interview with People magazine, Wolfe recalled how he rushed to be at Fritz’s side before he died.

“I got a call that he wasn’t doing well. I feel happy that I was able to make it,” Wolfe said.

He continued: “I was there for about an hour before he passed, and I was holding his hand and rubbing his chest when he took his last breath. I took my fingers and closed my eyes .”

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Wolfe told the outlet 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 last heartfelt words he shared with Fritz before his death.

“I just told him I wasn’t mad at him, that I loved him and cared about him so much,” Wolfe said. “And then when I saw he was struggling, I just said, ‘Go find your mother. Go find her right now. Go find her.'”

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

Wolfe recalled that he and Fritz met while in college in Iowa and struck up a friendship.

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

Wolfe told the outlet 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 and Fritz joined 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 a camera,” Wolfe remembers Fritz. “He was very sensitive. He was very caring. He was extremely funny. His sense of comedic timing was incredible.”

“Actually, the crew and I were always telling him that he should do stand-up because he was always very self-deprecating,” he added.

“He was one of those guys, no matter who we talked to, he could always put people at ease and let them know they were heard.”

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

In a 2021 interview with The Sun, Fritz revealed he struggled with alcoholism before leaving “American Pickers” and said he hadn’t “spoken to Mike in two years.”

“He knew my back was a mess, but he didn’t call me to ask how I was,” Fritz said of Wolfe. “It’s like this.”

Fritz also told this outlet that he thought “American Pickers” was “1,000 percent tilted toward him (Wolfe).”

“I can’t even bend over that far to show you how much,” he added. “I’m second and he’s number one in the series.”

“There was a lot of noise. That’s a nice way of putting it,” Wolfe told People during Fritz’s interview with The Sun. “It’s very difficult for me to talk about it, because a lot of things were said that weren’t true, and I always continued to pray for him. But unfortunately, the things we want for someone ‘a…sometimes (it’s) just not enough, and they have to want those things for themselves.’

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

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

Wolfe said he tried to help Fritz several times during his life. fight against addiction. He told People that he organized an intervention for Fritz with his late co-star’s family and other close friends.

Wolfe said he met Fritz about a month after the procedure. “He said he was going to handle everything on his own, and I asked him how he was. He said, ‘I’m fine. I’m fine. No, I’m really fine,'” Wolfe recalled.

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

Wolfe said he “still fought very hard” to convince Fritz to enter rehab and “never, ever gave up” on his friend.

Meanwhile, Wolfe recalled that production on “American Pickers” had resumed. Wolfe told People that “the network finally just made the decision” to proceed without Fritz because he couldn’t provide negative drug tests.

“They’re just saying, ‘Look, we’ve got to move on. We’ve got to get on with this,'” Wolfe said. “I had mixed emotions 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 was kind of left to my own devices 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 contacted representatives of A&E Networks for comment.

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

“I just wish he didn’t have to deal with all these things in the shadows,” he added. “We can tell him how much we love him and support him and encourage him, (but) he’ll just never get back on his feet.”

Despite their argument, Wolfe told People that he and Fritz “never disconnected.”

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“I walked away a little bit because I was watching what he was doing, but I still fought for him to go to rehab and I still had those conversations,” he said.

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

“I never completely distanced myself from him,” he added. “It would be impossible for me. But I watched it all unfold. I tried to help him as best I could and we talked.”

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

“It was beautiful,” Wolfe recalls. “He suffered from addiction. I know how critical the public can be.

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

Wolfe told People that there have been conversations about Fritz potentially returning to “American Pickers” after they mend their rift.

In 2022, Fritz suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. Wolfe told People that he knew then that an on-screen reunion with Fritz “was never going to happen” due to his former co-star’s health issues.

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

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“Once he had a stroke and went into a facility, I saw him very often and was able to talk to him very frankly and with a lot of love about everything I wanted tell him,” Wolfe recalled.

When asked how he wanted Fritz to be remembered, Wolfe replied: “He was a very beautiful person who, to be honest with you, who knows what our lives would have been like if he didn’t There had never been a show.”

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

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