“Boy Meets World” Star Danielle Fishel Just Opened Up About Her “Destructive” Behavior After She Was Made To Feel Overweight For Gaining 14 Pounds During Her Teen Years

This nonfiction contains references to disordered eating and struggling with assemblage representation and value gain.

Danielle Fishel was conscionable 12 years aged erstwhile she was formed arsenic Topanga Lawrence successful the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World, which ran for 7 seasons betwixt 1993 and 2000.

In 2022, she and her erstwhile castmates Will Friedle and Rider Strong launched a rewatch podcast, aptly called Pod Meets World, wherever they talk openly astir their memories and idiosyncratic experiences of moving connected the show, and it’s just to accidental that not each of the memories person been positive.

For context, Rider was 14 years aged erstwhile helium landed the relation of Shawn Hunter, and Will was 17 erstwhile helium was formed arsenic Eric Matthews.

And successful August 2024, Danielle discussed different troubling facet of increasing up connected the show, noting that some she and Will were made to consciousness self-conscious astir their changing bodies erstwhile their existent beingness weight summation was written into a Season 7 storyline.

The storyline was the halfway absorption of the occurrence “She’s Having My Baby Back Ribs,” which archetypal premiered successful March 2000. It opens with Topanga straight asking Eric: “Do you deliberation I’m fat?” to which helium bluntly replies: “Yeah,” aft helium had to dramatically unbutton his pants to beryllium down.

“You know, you’ve packed connected a fewer pounds too, Eric,” Topanga exclaims successful response, which prompts Eric to go affectional implicit his “70% flab.” When Topanga reassures him that he’s not alone, helium says: “That’s right, you’re abdominous too!” Eric past refers to them some arsenic “pigs” and goes connected to worldly an full portion of pizza successful his mouth.

Later successful the episode, Topanga is shown struggling to zip up her pants, and her husband, Cory, starts to speculate that she is large arsenic she and Eric conflict to instrumentality to a diet. The storyline ends with Topanga opening up astir however she is feeling to her friends and husband, and being assured that she is beauteous conscionable the mode that she is.

And this episode's decision is beauteous ironic, considering however Danielle and Will were made to consciousness astir their bodies successful existent beingness erstwhile producers invited them to a gathering to archer them astir the upcoming storyline.

“They called maine into the bureau to archer maine they were going to bash it; it wasn’t truly similar they asked,” Danielle explained. “Will had gained immoderate weight, I had gained immoderate weight. [They said]: ‘Obviously, you guys person gained a small spot of weight, truthful we’re going to constitute an occurrence astir it, and we conscionable wanted you to know. Here’s what it’s going to be, it’s going to beryllium truly funny.”

Danielle said that, successful the moment, Will acted OK with the situation, but she aboriginal learned that helium recovered the full happening “really achy and hurtful.” She besides wasn’t blessed with the storyline, but didn’t consciousness arsenic though she could talk up.

“The hardest portion for maine was that meeting,” she said. “Because Will precise overmuch was like: ‘Oh, yeah, I'm wholly up for it’ conscionable immediately, which I cognize present helium was precise insecure, and it was truly achy and hurtful for him. But I didn’t cognize that.”

“And helium was truthful funny, and specified an astonishing actor, and was so, like: ‘Yeah, sure, that's nary problem, that's good for me,’ and for me, it was much like: ‘Oh, wow…’ No 1 had said thing to maine astir it; I had been alert that I had gained weight, but I was inactive a size four!” Danielle shared. “So, I retrieve thinking: ‘Wow, these radical deliberation I've gained capable value we person to constitute an full occurrence astir my value gain, and close present I person to accidental I'm good with it due to the fact that they didn't adjacent contiguous to maine different alternative.’”

“And adjacent if they did, I astir apt wouldn't person felt comfy being like: ‘Yeah, I don't privation to bash that,’” she admitted. “And past that was conscionable successful my caput forever, awful.”

It’s worthy noting that Will was absent from this peculiar podcast episode, but implicit the years, helium has spoken astatine magnitude astir the interaction that struggling with his value had connected him during his clip connected Boy Meets World. More recently, Danielle besides revealed that her character’s assemblage was ever covered up during Season 7 due to the fact that of her value gain, with Topanga’s wedding formal adjacent having sleeves to conceal Danielle’s arms.

And each of these feelings resurfaced during Monday’s episode of Pod Meets World, wherever Danielle, present 44, broke down successful tears arsenic she discussed however she was treated for gaining value arsenic a kid star. It came arsenic the trio responded to instrumentality questions, with 1 listener penning successful to inquire what proposal they’d springiness to their Season 7 selves.

After Rider and Will answered, with Will reflecting connected how his conflict with anxiety some during and agelong aft Season 7 would marque that a “rough conversation,” they asked Danielle her thoughts, with Danielle admitting that she was “sobbing.” Rider gasped arsenic helium sadly noted: “You are!” and Danielle’s dependable broke arsenic she audibly cried portion speaking astir her experience.

“I’d astir apt archer myself that this isn’t going to beryllium the lone alteration you're going to acquisition successful your carnal body,” she began. “Your carnal assemblage is going to alteration up and down and near and close a cardinal much times implicit the people of your clip connected this earth, and your worthy arsenic a idiosyncratic was ne'er successful what different radical defined arsenic your beauty.”

“I deliberation I would archer myself that I inactive merit to beryllium loved successful immoderate signifier my assemblage volition instrumentality implicit the adjacent nevertheless agelong connected the life,” Danielle emotionally concluded. At this point, her husband, Jensen Karp, who besides produces the podcast, asked if she thought the information that her quality was “the beauteous miss connected the show” made her “feel worthless” erstwhile she believed idiosyncratic didn’t deliberation that mode astir her.

“Yeah,” Danielle replied, explaining that her character’s full property was astir not caring astir her quality oregon superficial things erstwhile she archetypal started connected the amusement astatine property 12, but arsenic the episodes went on, the amusement began to absorption connected her appearance. She said: “I wasn’t alert until Season 7 that for — what I felt similar — the radical successful complaint of this show, my worthy and my worth was lone my looks. I don’t deliberation I recognized that until it was precise evident that I was nary longer charismatic to them; I became alert that I was present conscionable disposable. And I carried that feeling with maine astir of my life.”

At this point, Will expressed his regret that helium and Danielle ne'er spoke to each different astir however they were truly feeling aft their gathering with the producers astir their value summation storyline, saying: “Do you cognize however overmuch easier it would person been connected some of america if you and I conscionable talked? Because we ne'er talked astir it, we smiled and said: ‘OK!’ If we conscionable went retired and conscionable talked astir what conscionable happened, it would person made everything truthful overmuch easier. Our souls near our bodies successful that meeting, it was similar we some died a small bit.”

They and Rider past noted that, contempt the Boy Meets World acceptable being “warm and loving” for the astir part, they ne'er had that level of “vulnerability” with 1 another, and that admitting to not being blessed with thing felt similar a “weakness.” They besides noted that adjacent if they had expressed their discomfort astatine the time, the storyline inactive would person gone up — and they’d person been judged by the remainder of the formed and unit for making it into a “big deal.”

Jensen added that galore of the emails they’d received from listeners were from Boy Meets World fans who were “dumbfounded” by the full happening due to the fact that neither Will nor Danielle looked anyplace adjacent overweight successful the episodes. Danielle agreed, explaining that it was “the quality standard” of that clip that favored “waif-like” women. Rider added that they were besides being compared to their teenage bodies, saying: “Your assemblage is going to spell done truthful galore weird changes, and we weren’t allowed that.”

Will said that adjacent though helium tin objectively spot that helium isn’t “fat” successful Season 7, helium inactive sees himself that mode erstwhile watching backmost the episodes due to the fact that of however helium was made to feel. He said: “Them pulling america speech and saying we're doing this episode, I wonderment if that's 1 of the reasons wherefore I inactive spot myself arsenic truthful abdominous successful Season 7. I've struggled with my value my full beingness — I've been mode bigger than I americium connected Season 7 galore times successful my life, I've mislaid up to 60 pounds 4 times successful my life. And erstwhile I look astatine Season 7, I'm not big, but successful my caput I'm huge. It’s similar you person a blemish connected your look oregon thing that doesn't fuss you until idiosyncratic points it out, and past it's each you see.”

Danielle was asked however overmuch value she thinks that she had gained implicit the seasons, and she said that aft being little than 100 pounds astatine 15 years old, successful Season 4 of Boy Meets World, she had gained lone astir 14 pounds by the extremity of the show, erstwhile she was astir 19 years old. She explained: “I started precise slowly, I didn’t enactment connected value overnight. I would announcement determination are 2 other pounds, and past that 2 other pounds became 4 other pounds, and past it became five.”

And she recalled however this impacted her astatine the time, too, saying: “I started purging, I started throwing up, I started overexercising. I passed retired astatine schoolhouse erstwhile from moving due to the fact that I had not been eating, and I was obsessively weighing myself. Around the clip of maine gaining weight, I besides stopped weighing myself due to the fact that it was precise intelligibly destructive. I was like: ‘I can't bash it anymore.’”