The news of Dustin Diamond’s death has sent shockwaves around the entertainment industry — and the cast of “Saved by the Bell” is still reeling from it, according to Mark-Paul Gosselaar.
Appearing on Tamron Hall’s self-titled talk show, Gosselaar spoke on his late co-star’s death and noted that “it’s always tough” when someone close passes away.
“I think it’s even more so when the individual is someone you know and the age of Dustin — it was only a few weeks ago that we heard about his diagnosis and for it to happen so quickly is shocking,” Gosselaar said on the show.
“Myself and the rest of the cast, we will get together at some point and sort of express our feelings, but yeah, it happened so quickly that we’re all just pretty shocked about it,” the actor, 46, explained.
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The cast of ‘Saved by the Bell’ including, Mario Lopez, Tiffani Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, Lark Voorhies and Mark-Paul Gosselaar have paid tribute to the late Dustin Diamond.
(Photo by NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Cast members including Mario Lopez, Tiffani Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, Lark Voorhies and Gosselaar himself have all paid tribute to the late actor following his death on Monday.
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Voorhies paid tribute to Diamond on Tuesday night, taking to Instagram to share a picture of the two on set while sharing some touching words.
“Words cannot express the grief that I am feeling right now,” Voorhies, 46, wrote. “Dustin and I had a warm and special friendship, he was a caring gentleman, and my memories of him will always be cherished.”
‘Saved by the Bell’ aired from 1989 to 1993 with Diamond, right, starring as Samuel ‘Screech’ Powers and Gosselaar starring as Zachary ‘Zack’ Morris.
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“I am so very sorry he is gone. But it’s exceptionally sad for his close loved ones who have do [sic] deal with his tragic death and their own great loss. My heart goes out to them at this trying time,” she continued.
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Gosselaar later noted in his interview how he slowly drifted away from Diamond and the rest of his castmates following the conclusion of “Saved by the Bell.”
“A lot of people may not understand that you can work with somebody for years — you can be very close, you see this person every day for an entire season of shooting and then once things wrap, the camera stops, you just drift apart,” Gosselaar said. “There’s no reason other than just things happen in life and before you know it, years have passed and I think that was what happened with Dustin with the rest of the cast.”
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“There was a time when I wasn’t talking with anybody on the cast,” the actor revealed.
“Saved by the Bell” aired from 1989 to 1993, and its spinoffs included “Saved by the Bell: The College Years” and “Saved by the Bell: The New Class,” both of which Diamond starred in. He was not a part of the “Saved” reboot on NBC’s streaming platform Peacock.