‘American Pickers’ Mike Wolfe Reveals Frank’s Drug Addiction
After the death of American Pickers‘ Frank Fritz this past September, his co-host and series creator Mike Wolfe has opened up about losing him. During a conversation, Wolfe shared details of Fritz’s struggle with addiction. Wolfe also revealed how he tried to help him, as well as sharing a few words in his memory.
Frank Fritz Stopped Appearing On American Pickers In 2020
Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz served as co-hosts on American Pickers when it first began in 2010. The series, which aired on the History Channel, saw Wolfe and Fritz venture throughout America in search of artifacts they can buy from collectors.
Fritz had made his last appearance on American Pickers in March 2020. He was officially fired from the show the following year.
In a recent conversation with People, Wolfe talked about Fritz’s firing from the show. He also described how his former co-host struggled with addiction.
As Wolfe explained, Fritz had undergone surgery after hurting his back moving things around his home. As Wolfe noted, the timing made things especially dangerous.
Wolfe noted that, “With that time off and him having surgery, it was like the perfect storm. He became addicted to opioids, and that’s when everything changed.”
While discussing what happened, Wolfe made it a point to note that he felt he didn’t “have the right to tell [Fritz’s] story,” saying that rightfully belonged to Fritz. However, he noted, “But I do have, I feel, the right to tell the personal story of how myself and so many people struggled to navigate what was going on in his life.”
Wolfe also revealed that he tried to stage an intervention on Fritz’s behalf. As he shared, “I remember running into him like a month later. He said he was just going to handle everything on his own, and I asked him how he was doing. He said, ‘I’m fine. I’m fine. No, I’m really fine.’ And then like a month later, he was gone.”
Wolfe Knew When He Knew Things Couldn’t Go Back
Saying he “never, ever gave up” on Fritz, Wolfe said he also tried to help Fritz enter rehab. Ultimately, he noted, “And so watching Frank doing some of the things that he was doing, it was really hard.”
The issues also impacted the show, with production calling for negative drug tests. Wolfe noted it was the network that made the final decision on what the show would do.
“They’re just like, ‘Listen, we have to move on. We have to keep going with this.’ I had mixed emotions about doing that… and we were just trying to figure out what we were going to do.”
Wolfe then compared losing Fritz to “losing a brother.” Fritz leaving the show wasn’t easy for him. As Wolfe shared, “I was just kind of left to fend for myself in a lot of ways. I could finish his sentences. He could finish my sentences.”
Wolfe also noted there was talk of having Fritz eventually rejoin the show. However, in 2022, he realized it “wasn’t ever going to happen” after he suffered a stroke in 2022.
Ultimately, Wolfe ended the conversation with some words describing his former co-host. As he shared, “He was a beautiful, beautiful person that, to be honest with you, who knows what our lives would’ve been like if there was never a show,” says Wolfe. “I just want people to know who he was.”
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