Dustin Diamond's girlfriend reveals Saved By The Bell star's heartbreaking final moments: 'He didn't want to die'

Dustin Diamond's girlfriend and his best friend have opened up about the "pain" and "suffering" the Saved By The Bell star endured during his final moments.

Just three weeks after he was diagnosed with stage four small-cell lung carcinoma, Diamond passed away on Monday at the age of 44.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, his girlfriend, Tash, 39, said: "He was the love of my life. We planned on a future together and spoke often about having kids. I'm heartbroken."

Diamond's girlfriend Tash shared with the Daily Mail the touching words he spoke to her just one day before his death.

"Even though he was struggling to breathe and had difficulty speaking he was able to get out the words to me, 'I love you,' I told him I loved him back," she said.

Tash added, "Dustin died at our friend Jules' house in the Fort Meyers, Florida area."

The actor had been discharged from hospital on Monday and was being taken to a friend's home by medical staff for hospice care.

Tash and another of their friends, Dan Block, had followed the transport vehicle from the hospital to their friends' home. They arrived shortly after Diamond did.

Tash had found Diamond, who was still on the hospital gurney, not breathing while a hospice carer and their friend Jules was preparing his bedroom.

"After I got out of our car I went into the house to be with Dustin. That was when I discovered he wasn't breathing," she said. Shortly after, he was pronounced dead.''

Also speaking to the Daily Mail, Block recalled the pain he suffering his friend endured, saying: "By Monday you could tell he was in pain, I think he was suffering, by the way he was breathing."

He added: "Dustin was scared, he called me often crying, telling me he didn't want to die. He was in a lot of pain. One time on the phone he told me, 'Find me a new body, I don't want to die.'"

Diamond was best known for his portrayal of Bayside's resident geek on the hit 90s sitcom Saved by the Bell.

Best friends with the show's protagonist Zack Morris (played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and in love with the fashion-obsessed Lisa Turtle (played by Lark Voorhies), the show follows the socially awkward character as he navigates his way through high school and later college in, Saved by the Bell: The College Years.