In the latest episode of the 'Pod Meets World' podcast, the actress, who played Topanga Lawrence on the hit show, opens up about 'creepy' experiences on the set of the sitcom involving one male executive.
- Jun 20, 2023
AceShowbiz - "Boy Meets World" star Danielle Fishel made a bombshell claim while talking about her time on the hit show. In the latest episode of the "Pod Meets World" podcast, Danielle opened up about "creepy" experiences on the set of the sitcom involving one male executive.
In the episode, Danielle and her co-hosts and fellow "Boy Meets World" stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle were interviewed by the fan podcast "Bruh Meets World". They were asked what it was like to be "an object of desire at such a young age."
Danielle, who joined the show to play Topanga Lawrence when she was 12, said that she didn't really think about that aspect of being a child star on a sitcom for teens until she was older. She only realized later in her life that there were more than a few instances that adult men were being "creepy" toward her.
"As a kid, I always wanted to be older," she shared. "I wanted to be an adult, I wanted to be seen as an adult, so getting adult male attention as a teenage girl… I didn't think of it as being creepy or weird."
She continued, "I felt it like was validation that I was mature and I was an adult and I was capable. And that they were seeing me the way I was, not for the number on a page. And in hindsight, that is absolutely wrong."
As her co-hosts pointed out that she was emotionally mature when she worked on the series, Danielle said, "I've always been able to hold a conversation with an adult. I can look you in the eye, I've always been those things." She added, "But in a romantic, male gaze sense I should not have been outwardly talked about at 14, 15, 16 years old."
"And I was, even directly to me. I had people tell me they had my 18th birthday on their calendar. I had a male executive, I did a calendar at 16, and he specifically told me he had a certain calendar month in his bedroom. And at the time, my first thought was a little like …oh… but the immediate thought after that was: 'Yes, because we are peers and this is how you relate to peers,' " she added.
This wasn't the first time Danielle criticized the show. Last year, she discussed some of the mistreatment she faced on the set of "Boy Meets World". She said there was a huge "pay disparity" between her and her male co-stars. "I had to threaten to not show up to a table read," she said in an episode of the podcast back in 2022, according to Yahoo News.
