Video taking off 203x its usual first day

"I never got a call": Luis Moncada remembers his last days with RJ Mitte

The "Breaking Bad" actor recalls a balloon ride, an airport drive and an open invitation, and keeps his friend's confidences to himself.

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TMZ Clips Story of October 14, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 658,410 views a day, 203 times a normal first day on this channel (3,237).

'Breaking Bad' Star Opens Up About RJ Mitte's Death | TMZ

Things we can learn from the video

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0:10Luis recalls a charity golf tournament and a comedy show with Steven Quezada, where RJ seemed unusually sad.
0:40He took RJ on a hot air balloon ride to cheer him up and take his mind off things.
1:07RJ faced heavy personal pressures, Luis says, but he declines to share private details.
2:47After lunch he drove RJ to the Albuquerque airport, and they talked for 45 minutes in the car.
3:28He invited RJ to stay at his home and asked him to promise to call if he needed to talk.
5:04His message to anyone struggling: never handle it alone; reach out to a friend, a therapist or someone trusted.

Luis Moncada took RJ Mitte up in a hot air balloon over Albuquerque, hoping a morning in the sky would lift his friend's mood. In the TMZ interview posted on TMZ Clips, he explains why: Mitte "seemed really tired and sad."

Moncada, who played one of the silent Salamanca cousins on "Breaking Bad," tells hosts Harvey Levin and Charles Latibeaudiere about the days before Mitte's death. There was a charity golf tournament and a comedy show with Steven Quezada, then lunch, then a drive to the Albuquerque airport that turned into 45 minutes of talking in the parked car.

He says Mitte was "being pulled in all kinds of directions," and stops there. The details stay private. What he does share is the offer he made: a room at his home to reset, and a promise that Mitte would call if he needed to talk. Then he breaks down. "And he didn't. And I never got a call."

Through tears, he remembers how Mitte had stood by him in his own hardest moments, and turns to anyone watching: "Don't do it by yourself. Reach out to a friend, reach out to a therapist, or somebody you trust." He closes on the friendship that began on set in 2009, calling Mitte "the sweetest person I've ever met in my life."

The clip passed 300,000 views within eight hours, on a channel whose regular videos usually draw a few thousand in a whole first day. Its comment section is running hundreds of times busier than usual, and much of it is about the line Moncada would not cross: many viewers thank him for keeping what was said in confidence between the two of them.

The interview stands apart from the channel's other uploads about Mitte, including footage of police outside the Texas home where he was found, which drew a small fraction of its audience. A day earlier, as we reported here, the channel's older clip of Mitte talking about casting disabled actors was drawing attention.

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