Steve Wilkos will hold his most recent memory of late friend and mentor Jerry Springer close to his heart. The “Steve Wilkos Show” host spoke exclusively with Access Hollywood following the death of the talk show icon on Thursday and reflected on the last time they’d seen each other and why the conversation has so much more meaning to him now. “We reflected a lot and we shared a lot of old stories and he embraced me in a way that he’d never really embraced me. He gave me a hug and was telling me he loved me. I think he knew he was sick. I didn’t even know he was sick until this morning because he looked the same to me,” Wilkos continued. “I knew there was something off, but I certainly didn’t know he had a terminal illness, or whatever he had. I think this was his way of saying goodbye to me.”

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