It’s been a rollercoaster year for Mike Wolfe. The American Pickers star began 2025 dealing with the aftermath of his longtime friend and costar Frank Fritz‘s 2024 death. The pair had a complicated relationship in the years before Fritz died.
Then, in September, he and his girlfriend, Leticia Cline, were involved in a car accident in Tennessee that left him injured and her hospitalized. Scroll down for everything we know about the crash, Wolfe and Cline’s injuries, Wolfe’s falling out with Fritz, and more.
What happened to Mike Wolfe?
Wolfe suffered various facial injuries in the September 12 crash. Per an Instagram post from Cline, Wolfe dealt with “a broken nose, stitches, and heavy bruising to his face.” He was released from the hospital one day after the accident.
“He is incredibly lucky, as he broke the steering wheel and could have been impaled by the steering column,” she explained.
Cline’s injuries were much worse, as her side of the car “took most of the impact as Mike tried to swerve to miss the other driver,” she shared. Cline spent four days in the hospital with a “dislocated jaw that is also broken in three places, a broken sternum, broken ribs, collapsed lung, and bruising to [her] spine.” During that hospital stay, she had one procedure, followed by another “major surgery” on September 22.
With Wolfe by her side, Cline has spent the next several months recovering. The surgery left her with a “wired jaw” and a “long road of rehab.”
Wolfe was driving an “old Porsche 356” when the accident occurred, per Cline’s post.
What caused Mike Wolfe’s car crash?
On October 1, Main Street Maury reported that 76-year-old Lerone Heads was charged with “DUI, vehicular assault and failure to yield resulting in serious bodily injury.” In her post detailing the crash, Cline explained, “A man driving an SUV pulled out from a side street, and we had little to no time to react.”
After mostly remaining off of social media amid her recovery, Cline returned to TikTok on December 2 and revealed that she will appear in court on December 3 to give her victim statement in Heads’ case. “Even though I’m still limited with speech, I have a lot to say,” she shared.
In another TikTok comment, Cline told a fan, “I was hit by a drunk driver Sept. 12 and broke my jaw in 3 places and a lot of bones in my chest too.”
What happened between Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz?
Fritz left American Pickers in 2020, ten years after the show’s premiere. Shortly before Fritz left the show, he and Wolfe had a falling out in 2019. Their feud came amid Fritz’s health issues, including a back injury.
“I haven’t talked to Mike in two years,” Fritz told The U.S. Sun in 2021. “He knew my back was messed up, but he didn’t call me up and ask how I was doing. That’s just how it is.”
That July, Wolfe posted on Instagram about his longtime costar’s exit from American Pickers. In his post, he said, “I will miss Frank, just like all of you, and I pray for the very best and all good things for him on the next part of his journey.”
Brad Barket/Getty Images
According to Newsweek, Fritz fired back, “Somebody wrote it out for him. I don’t believe in 10 years he’s said five nice things to me, you know? Unless he was cutting somebody else down and we were both laughing.”
Wolfe told The U.S. Sun in August 2021 that Fritz’s addiction issues were the root of their problems. “I would love to talk with him again, we would absolutely love to, but he just can’t get it right,” he admitted. “Frank is just going through a lot personally with his addictions. It’s unfortunate that he’s made decisions that have made him the way he is.”
After Fritz suffered a stroke in 2022, Wolfe publicly wished him well on Instagram and asked fans to pray for him.
How did Mike Wolfe react to Frank Fritz’s death?
By the time of Fritz’s death, he and Wolfe had patched things up in their relationship. A friend told The Quad-City Times that Fritz and Wolfe reunited in May 2023 while Fritz was recovering from his stroke.
Wolfe also posted a tribute to his old friend when he died in September 2024. “I’ve know Frank for more then half my life and what you’ve seen on TV has always been what I have seen, a dreamer who was just as sensitive as he was funny,” he wrote. “The same off camera as he was on, Frank had a way of reaching the hearts of so many by just being himself.”
He concluded, “Who would have ever dreamed we would share the cockpit of a white cargo van in front of millions of people interested in our adventures. Before the show we would take off together to places we never knew existed with no destination in mind and just the shared passion to discover something interesting and historic. We’ve been on countless trips and shared so many miles and I feel blessed that I was there by his side when he took one last journey home. I love you buddy and will miss you so much I know your in a better place.”
American Pickers, Wednesdays, 9/8c, History Channel