Fans Support ‘American Pickers’ Star Mike Wolfe After Devastating Family Loss

Mike Wolfe is feeling love from fans amid a heartbreaking family tragedy.

The American Pickers star took to Instagram on Tuesday, February 3, to announce that his beloved mother, Rita, had passed away. “Last night we lost the strongest most beautiful woman I will ever know,” he wrote alongside a photo of Rita. “My mom had been fighting cancer the past four months. My brother and sister and I were by her side when she took her last breath.”

He continued, “The pain and sorrow comes in waves and sometimes it all still doesn’t feel real. Everything I have become in my life I owe to her. God I will miss her but I know she’s in a better place. I love you to the moon and back Mama. I will look for those little moments when you still find ways guide us. 🙏.”

Thousands of fans offered their condolences in the post’s comments. “I am so sorry for your loss and your family’s loss. ❤️ I bet she had some great stories to tell and this shows through in who you are,” one user wrote. Another added, “Sooo very sorry to hear of her passing. Remarkable human.. I enjoyed seeing her whenever she was In town. Just a sweet spirit. My condolences to Robbie and Beth. 💔.”

Someone else shared, “So sorry Mike. Love and prayers to you and your family 🙏.” A different commenter stated, “Mike, so very sorry your mother was so kind and beautiful and sweet !!! so very, very very sorry! Love you, Mike. Hug hugs to you and all your family.”

 

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A post shared by Mike Wolfe (@mikewolfeamericanpicker)

A separate person posted, “Sending love to you and your fam. Now you have the most powerful of guardian angels looking over you.” Somebody else wrote, “My sincere condolences to you and your family. Her legacy shines on in you and your siblings. May her memory be a blessing.”

Rita’s death comes after a difficult few months for Wolfe. In September 2025, he revealed that he and his girlfriend, Leticia Cline, were involved in a car crash that left Cline hospitalized. “By the grace of God, we’re both safe and okay,” he wrote via his Instagram Story at the time. “We are both receiving excellent care, and while Leticia is still in the hospital, she is expected to make a full recovery. Thank you for respecting our privacy at this time, and we appreciate all of your love [and] prayers. God bless.”

While Wolfe suffered a broken nose, a hurt knee, and face lacerations, Cline’s injuries — including jaw, sternum, and rib fractures, as well as a partially collapsed lung — required multiple surgeries to fix.

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Cline reflected on her recovery in a December 10 Instagram post, writing, “Healing has been brutal and deeply unglamorous. My jaw was broken in the worst way possible, and there is no ‘normal’ timeline for recovery for me. Eating is still hard. Talking is still hard. Pain is constant. Progress is measured in millimeters and moments no one else would recognize as victories.”

She continued, “Every day now requires intention. If I sit too long with what I’ve lost – the time, the ease, the body I had – it could swallow me whole. Some days the anger gets so big I have to walk for miles just to move it out of me. … I lived. Barely. And I’ll never pretend otherwise: I fought like hell for my life, sacrifices no one can understand, and I’m not letting anyone rewrite that.”

American Pickers, New Episodes, Sunday, February 15, 8/7c, History Channel