Mario Lopez is remembering his final conversation with his former Saved By the Bell co-star Dustin Diamond.
The Access Hollywood co-host revealed on the show on Tuesday (February 2) that he had stayed in contact with Dustin over the years.
Mario shared, “I’m happy to say and I feel good about always having stayed in touch with Dustin. He had some struggles and a complicated life, but we all do.”
“I don’t abandon, like, my friends or never turn my back on people that are always there for me,” he continued. “And I stood by him and was always a phone call away when he moved to Wisconsin and we stayed in touch and he met his girlfriend recently. We were actually discussing, when I talked to him recently, just two weeks prior to him passing, about the upcoming season and figuring out doing something cool. I was trying to convince him to do something in the reality space that I’d be producing for him. It was actually pretty funny.”
Dustin passed away on Monday (February 1) after being diagnosed with with stage 4 small cell carcinoma. The actor, who was best known for his iconic role as Samuel “Screech” Powers, was 44.
Mario added, “Unfortunately that won’t come to fruition now, but he was in good spirits at least. He was pretty positive and optimistic last I spoke to him.”
Click here to see how the rest of the Saved by the Bell cast reacted to news of Dustin’s passing.