Fans of “Pawn Stars” are heartbroken and sending love to Rick Harrison after he suffered another crushing blow in his family. Only 18 months after his son Adam died tragically, Rick’s mom, Joanne Harrison, has passed away at 85.
Joanne died in a Las Vegas hospital on Wednesday, according to Rick’s rep, Laura Herlovich, who spoke to TMZ. “Rick is grieving privately right now,” she shared. The 60-year-old pawn shop owner and TV personality is now mourning two of the people closest to him—his mom and his son.
Adam, one of Rick’s three boys, was just 39 when he died on January 19, 2024. The coroner said it was an accidental overdose from fentanyl and methamphetamine.
A Painful Reminder of the Fentanyl Crisis
When the news first came out, Rick told TMZ:
“Yeah, Adam died from a fentanyl overdose. This crisis in our country needs to be taken way more seriously. It’s pouring across the borders, and nobody’s doing enough. We have to do better.”
He also posted a touching tribute on Instagram:
“You’ll always be in my heart! I love you, Adam.”
In a raw interview with Graham Bensinger back in March, Rick opened up about the daily ache of losing his son.
“I think about him every single day,” he said. “He struggled with drugs in his 20s—I put him in rehab over and over. He’d get clean, do great, then slip again. It’s a story you hear from so many families. It got really bad, and it wasn’t even heroin this time. He got fentanyl, and it took him.”
More Loss Than Anyone Should Bear
Rick admitted that Adam’s death changed everything.
“When you lose a child, you question every single thing. ‘Could I have done more? Should I have said something different?’ It runs through your head nonstop. There’s not a day I don’t think about him. I did everything I could.”
This isn’t the first time Rick has faced deep grief. Back in 2018, his dad, Richard “Old Man” Harrison—the sharp-tongued heart of Pawn Stars—passed away after a long fight with Parkinson’s.
Rick honored his father with a moving Instagram post at the time:
“He’ll be missed so much—by our family, the Gold & Silver team, and fans everywhere. He was my hero. I was lucky to have such a cool ‘Old Man’ as my dad. And I’m grateful so many got to see what an amazing family man he was.”
He ended by saying his dad lived a full life and, through the show, “touched people all over the world.”
Now, as Rick faces this latest loss, fans are flooding social media with messages of support, reminding him he’s not alone.
For a guy who’s spent years bringing smiles, history lessons, and good-natured haggling into living rooms everywhere, this string of tragedies has hit hard—and left so many rooting for him through the pain.