American Pickers’ Mike Wolfe Remembers Frank Fritz’s Opioid Addiction

American voters‘ Mike Wolfe he is open about his client and friend Frank FritzOpioid addiction.

“Here’s the deal,” Wolfe, 60, said People in an interview published on Monday, November 4. “I have no right to tell his story — only he has. But I feel I have the right to tell a personal story of how I and many people are struggling to figure out what is going on in his life.”

According to Wolfe, he and Fritz were both navigating “a crumbling relationship” during the COVID-19 pandemic, which coincided with Fritz dealing with a back injury and undergoing surgery.

Wolfe called the time off from the pandemic and Fritz’s surgery “a perfect storm.” Wolfe added, “He became addicted to opioids, and that’s when everything changed.”

Related: ‘American Pickers’ Costars Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe’s Ups and Downs

American Pickers stars Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe have had many ups and downs in their decades-long friendship. The two first worked together on the hit series in 2009 and the show aired on the History Channel the following year. The series followed Wolfe and Fritz’s travels across the United States in search of antiques […]

The inner circle of the two had an intervention. A month later, Wolfe said Fritz was optimistic about how he was doing — but despite Fritz’s suggestion that things were fine, Wolfe said his struggle was palpable.

When the recording started again American votersWolfe said he “fought really hard” to get Fritz back to normal. After the production requested a drug test, Fritz could not provide it.

“The network just made a decision,” Wolfe said. “It’s like, ‘Listen, we have to move on. We have to get on with this.’ I had mixed feelings about doing that … and we were just trying to figure out what to do. “

Fritz, who was in charge American voters 10 years after its debut in 2010 with Wolfe, it went off the air in 2021.

Fritz died at the age of 60 on September 30, his representative said TMZ in October that Fritz died of a stroke and was in a hospice surrounded by friends when he died. A day after Fritz’s death, Wolfe shared news of the tribute via Instagram.

“It is with a broken heart that I share with all of you that Frank died last night,” Wolfe wrote in October. “I’ve known Frank for more than half of my life and what you saw on TV was always what I saw, a dreamer who was as sensitive as he was funny. Just like what he was on camera, Frank had a way of reaching the hearts of many just by being himself.”

“Who would have dreamed that we would share the cockpit of a white cargo van in front of millions of people who love our adventures. Before the show we were traveling together to places we never knew existed and where we had no idea what to do with a shared love of finding something interesting and historic,” continued Wolfe. “We have been on countless trips and shared many miles and I feel blessed to have been there by his side as he made his final journey home. I love you dear and I will miss you so much I know yours [sic] in a better place.”

If you or someone you know has a substance abuse problem, contact the National Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).