'Breaking Bad' Star Recalls RJ Mitte's Final Days | The TMZ Podcast

Hey, welcome to the TMZ Podcast Afternoon Edition. I'm Branson Quirk. I'm Netta Ambar. And it has not got any easier in the last 24 hours dealing with this very heartbreaking death of RJ Mitte, Breaking Bad fans around the world. Fans of anything else that he starred in as well are really having a tough time because, man, he was an icon. He really was. And he was so young. It's just heartbreaking. I feel like everyone's heartbroken. yeah i mean this is something that you just didn't see coming especially from someone so positive so in the conversation of mental health uh so in the conversation of of dealing with a disability and advocating for that here um and casting and everything and we're learning a little bit more um you know about the struggles that RJ Mitte had faced but i'm sure you're actually here because you saw on the thumbnail or in the title that we actually had one of the uh other iconic Breaking Bad characters inside uh TMZ's office today uh Luis Moncada who plays one of the Salamanca twins Marco Salamanca to be specific have you seen the show Netta it's okay to be honest i know you haven't no but i'm going to watch it in honor of RJ and i think that's amazing i think that's great. And I think it's going to lead a lot of people who haven't seen it. And there's a lot of people in this office who haven't seen it to actually watch it. Well, he actually came in today, the day after his beloved friend passed away because he wanted to speak on his behalf and talk about how much he loved him. And he sat right in your seat right here just a couple hours ago and spoke with Harvey Levin and Charles on TMZ Live. And the reason also we wanted him to come in is because and we'll get to the video in just a minute here is because he was one of the people who last saw RJ alive he went on a balloon ride with him just recently in the last couple weeks here and he knew that RJ was struggling and actually had a conversation with him and he talks all about um you know those final days so let's play that now for you it's a little long it's about four and a half minutes but i wanted you guys to hear the full um words from him so here we go joining us now to talk about rj's life uh is his former co-star and his friend luis moncada luis uh welcome to tmz live thank you for having me first of all we're so sorry um why don't you tell us a little bit about uh that albuquerque balloon ride and just your interaction with him So, we got to Albuquerque over a week ago for a golf charity tournament. And we did the tournament. We went to a comedy show with Steven Quesada, another co-star. And the whole time, you know, talked to RJ, see how he's doing. You know, we always have a good time with him. I want to say this time, though, he was a little different. You know, I can tell he was different. So, to try to cheer him up, I invited him to come to the balloon the next day. And that's how the balloon happened. We brought him on the balloon. We tried to cheer him up, joke around like we always do. I mean, I'm sure you guys can tell by the video that he seemed really tired and sad. And he was. He was. Did you talk to him about what was bothering him? Yes. Could you share some of it? No, that one's too personal. But let me just tell you, he was being pulled in all kinds of directions. He was very conflicted with that. I can't say what it is that it's not my place to do I'm not going to say that but yeah, he was just struggling with that Luis Were you aware did you we were aware of that that issue for him at the moment? there's a moment in the video that When you're in the balloon and you said to him and I don't know I when watching it It seemed like maybe he was just afraid of heights or afraid of the balloon But you turned to him and you said go ahead put your your head right here on my shoulder and Were you aware at that moment that he was going through this issue, as you described it, being pulled in different ways? Yes, I was already aware of it when we brought, that's the reason why I brought him on the balloon, because he doesn't like heights and, you know, just invited him to have a good time and forget about things, you know, put his mind somewhere else for a little bit at least. So, you know, the whole time during the, this is just a little portion of the video. The video is a lot longer, you know, and, you know, I was trying to cheer him up. My friend Aliza was trying to cheer him up the whole time because we knew he was in his head with things, thinking about life and stress of life, the pressure and all that stuff. So the whole balloon ride, we try to cheer him up, take more pictures, joke with him, and all those kinds of things that you do when you want to make someone feel better. So we ended the balloon ride and we went to lunch. I dropped him off at the hotel. And then the next day, I picked him up to take him to the airport. you know the way to the airport we talked the whole time and then Albuquerque airport is really small so we parked outside and we talked for another 45 minutes and then you know I we talked about everything the situation and I offered him to stay at my house with my son just him and I and I told him just come to my house bro and just reset yourself you know think clearly without people pulling you in every way all this pressure that you have outside of all of this you know I said, just come to my house, you know, and stay with me. And he had already been on the road for over a month. He said he had to go home. And so I made him promise to call me. I made him promise to call me if they needed to talk. And he did. Wow. It's heartbreaking, really. It really is. You know, and this is so fresh for him, too. So, you know, I think it's very, you know, brave and honorable of him to come in this soon after this happened. I was going to say that. I mean, he did it for RJ, he did it for yeah absolutely you know and he was very he was very kind everybody in the office when he came in um it's actually interesting that you know he plays this really evil character uh Lewis he plays this really evil character on screen but probably the most soft softy guy one of the softest guys i've ever met yeah no he seems like such a good friend and he seems like a teddy bear like and he seems so worried about his friend and he just seems heartbroken in that video like so heartbroken he like had to like stop talking and like take a few breaths and the fact that he shared that much was like honor like honorable in itself like i'm glad that he didn't say RJ's like super personal yeah the the and what she means by that if you didn't see it is that he we Harvey had asked him what he may have told him that he was struggling with RJ and he did talk to him about what he was struggling with but he wouldn't reveal it because it's too personal which i admire i admire that yeah i mean we at least give him the chance if he did want to speak about um maybe something that he was going through to you know shed light on different things but and yeah very kind guy he stuck around the office for a while he was chatting with us in the front telling us stories about Breaking Bad um and and again like I just want to put more of an emphasis on like how shocking this is because seeing RJ being an advocate for people with disabilities and we actually found out that he had been, he spent years messaging a friend about industry struggles as a disabled actor for some time. And we obtained some of those messages that he sent to his friend in April seven and on April 7th, 2017 RJ said casting agents sometimes rejected him because a character was not written as disabled. He wrote, quote, when I go for a part, they sometimes tell me that it's not a character with a disability. And I'm like, why can't the character be disabled? They get real uncomfortable when I say that. In another April 2017 message, RJ said he was struggling with casting despite his success on Breaking Bad. He wrote, quote, I can do any role, but some of the casting agents and directors are a-holes who won't even look at me. RJ considered publicly criticizing those agents and directors but ultimately decided not to um in december of 2017 later that year rj said a television pilot he had been working on went nowhere he described the entertainment industry as brutal in february of 2019 a couple years later rj said he had worked on a film in australia he explained that doing too many international projects could interfere with his health care coverage he wrote quote i hope i can find stuff here i would like to work enough to keep my health insurance pain in the ass laugh out loud uh and then you know the pandemic started and i spoke to luis about this as well you know once COVID hit a lot of things changed in the industry i he wrote quote i just need to remind people to book me so clearly he was going through um a struggle because just because you're in the biggest show of all time i know that's crazy does not translate to booking consistently even though somebody like Louis, you know I think he should be headlining movies as a villain, you know he did such an amazing job as that character but you know even him, you know he you don't see him headlining movies these days he's working and he's doing a great uh doing great work but you don't see him necessarily working um in a sense where you think someone from the biggest show of all time would that's so crazy to me that you can be on the biggest like Breaking Bad is one of the biggest shows of all time and still struggle after that that is so insane to me and especially that he struggled like he seemed so talented I mean he is talent he was talented and the fact that he struggled in Hollywood um that just makes me so sad because it's a it's a really like scary industry it actually it's a very scary industry and it's hard to be in and you hear stories like RJ's and you are like wow like you see these actors on TV and you're like oh they're so lucky they're famous they're probably like have the perfect life but they don't right really hard and and RJ he was so positive we're told before weeks before he died um he was making plans for future movies television projects and philanthropy just weeks before his death um he did a podcast with Joe Vulpis if you know him he's he has a podcast he goes by the Joe um and he interviews a lot of different people from various worlds of entertainment and he had just spoken with him and he also spoke with uh other cast members before as well for Breaking Bad and you know this it's near and dear to my heart too because uh my girlfriend she lives in Temecula and one of the main cast members of Breaking Bad Dean Norris who plays Hank Schrader in the show he's the DEA agent i mean when you watch the show you'll know what i'm talking about here um they were a close-knit community the the stars you know and Bryan Cranston came out and wrote this this lengthy post about him Aaron Paul uh also Giancarlo who plays Gus Fring also one of the cartel members not just cartel members the leader of the cartel in the show sam would you say he's a villain i would say he's more of like an anti an anti-hero ish maybe brutal guy nonetheless he posted a carousel today and said dear one um no words can express what your friendship has meant to me i will remember the laughter the rapture of pure joy in the loving moments we have shared i will remember the magnitude of your kindness your from your philanthropy your being in service to others before yourself you will forever live in my heart representing how pure love can change the world rest in peace now you are free fly with the angels and in terms of his death uh the investigation remains ongoing um the manner of death has not been released as of now but everyone is coming out and it's just shocking it's so much love for him there was so there's so much love for him people loved RJ yeah and you know I, it's, it's you just wish like he said Luis in that in that interview we just did with him it's like he told him, call me please when you get home, you know if you need to talk you're struggling again um and he never got that call so it's just an important reminder to people that if they're also dealing with the exact same thing and there are people if you're watching this you're listening to this I know you hear it from time to time again the same thing, hey if you're dealing with this you know get help but it's like you know this is not the answer right and people care people care they they would like we care about you to them yeah right um any comments about RJ and his career Tony the people any favorite scenes for me my favorite scene is obviously the breakfast scenes with RJ I have to say if you know that um people are for the most part just saying R.I.P RJ um Krista says I'm glad he came on TMZ to share his heartbreak and spread the message of love and support um and yeah that's really it people just expressing their their um condolences for him people just need to continue talking about him yeah no and and watch everything that he did yes watch his other projects he didn't just do Breaking Bad you know and I feel like that was kind of in his favor but also against him being in such a big show typically when you're like for example Tobey Maguire you can agree with this Sam Spider-Man you know that's all I think of when that's all you think of when anybody that meets this guy you're like oh my gosh what is he what is he from Breaking Bad and when casting directors see him you know they think Breaking Bad sometimes you could be almost too famous you could be almost too known that it works against you that's like Shaq and but it's like I just to casting directors if you're listening to this if you're watching this we want to see disabled people in these roles it's okay if they're disabled and they just happen to be disabled doesn't have to be a story that's written about a disabled character right and that's what RJ was fighting against is is it doesn't have to be a disabled character why can't they just have cerebral palsy and in the show Breaking Bad RJ amplified his cerebral palsy um and he didn't have it as extreme as he did in the show so there was no reason that these casting directors could have turned him away for that reason it's like we would have loved to see him in new projects we would love to see him in new movies it's so we just would so many fans right so all right well we're gonna get out of here but uh please you know just in honor of RJ watch Breaking Bad tonight throw on uh throw on one of the episodes actually don't start from the beginning yeah i'm gonna start from the beginning because you have to watch it in order right it makes more sense Annetta please watch it no i'm really sad that i haven't watched it i know i'm 100 watching it but you gotta buckle down it's not like just pop the show on it's it's not it's not like any other TV show right Sam you gotta focus up on it okay you gotta really lock in i'm gonna really lock in like get through the few the first eight episodes at least tonight maybe tonight till the morning right all right netta better come back watching the whole season tomorrow yeah no for sure i'm doing it for rj please do all right thank you everybody and we will see you back here in the morning bye