On Tuesday's episode of the IHeartRadio "Boy Meets World" rewatch podcast "Pod Meets World," Danielle Fishel admitted that Topanga's marriage to Cory (Ben Savage) probably had about a "98%" chance of being a "catastrophic failure" if it had been a real marriage instead of a fictional sitcom one.
On a Q&A episode of the show on Tuesday, Fishel reflected on her character's choice to stay in Pennsylvania and marry Cory, her high school sweetheart, instead of going to Yale.
Asked by her cohost and former costar Will Friedle at about the 27-minute mark of the episode if she thought Cory and Topanga should've gotten married as teenagers right after graduating high school, she said she hadn't made up her mind and had to watch the episode.
Fishel said she didn't think she'd "ever recommend" that anyone get married as recent high school graduates, but she wouldn't judge anyone who did or doom their marriage to instant failure.
"Overall, no. I would say no one should get married at 18, 19 years old. I don't care if you've known each other since you were three," she said to Friedle and their third cohost Rider Strong, who played Cory's best friend Shawn Hunter.
"Ninety-eight percent of the time that's going to be a catastrophic failure," she added.
"Boy Meets World" ran as part of ABC's iconic "TGIF" lineup from 1993 to 2000. The later seasons of the show focused heavily on Cory and Topanga's romance, with storylines involving infidelity and even potential pregnancy.
Fishel and Friedle took a personal perspective and decided that Cory should've told Topanga to go to Yale. Strong took a more pragmatic approach and pointed out that Cory and Topanga being married was probably just a smart step for the show to take at the time.
Strong noted that the relationship was a "defining characteristic of the show," though he wouldn't have written the marriage storyline.
Asked a similar question in a 2022 interview with Insider, Fishel had a different perspective. "It wasn't our vision," she said, noting that showrunner Michael Jacobs had a specific love story he wanted to tell.
"Whether or not Cory and Topanga, or Topanga made the right decision about choosing him over Yale, I'll never know, but I think it worked out for her life," Fishel reflected.
"I think Topanga had something that she wanted, which was a family and a relationship with Cory, and she also wanted a career. And at the end of the day, it did not stop her from pursuing her career and becoming a lawyer and becoming a judge, regardless of whether or not she got the degree from a more prestigious university," she added.
IHeartRadio releases new episodes of "Pod Meets World" weekly.