‘American Pickers’ star Mike Wolfe gets candid about Frank Fritz’s opioid addiction — and his show exit

nypost.com:

Mike Wolfe is shedding light on the life of his late friend Frank Fritz.The two were co-hosts of the History Channel reality show “American Pickers” for 22 seasons.

Fritz died last month at 60 years old, and now Wolfe, 60, is reflecting on their decadeslong friendship and Fritz’s private battle with opioid addiction.“Here’s the deal,” Wolfe told People magazine on Monday. “I don’t have the right to tell his story — only he does.

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.”The reality star noted how he and Fritz were both dealing with “relationships that were falling apart” during the pandemic.

The late star also suffered a back injury while moving things around at home and underwent surgery.“With that time off and him having surgery, it was like the perfect storm,” recalled Wolfe. “He became addicted to opioids, and that’s when everything changed.“He admitted that Fritz’s loved ones staged an intervention.A month after the intervention, Wolfe bumped into his friend.“I remember running into him … He said he was just going to handle everything on his own, and I asked him how he was doing,” continued the History Channel star. “He said, ‘I’m fine.