Danielle Fishel says 'Boy Meets World' didn't address body-image issues in a 'positive' way
- Danielle Fishel told Insider she doesn't think "Boy Meets World" addressed body image in a "positive" way.
- Fishel opened up about dieting on set of the sitcom to People in 2010.
Danielle Fishel told Insider in a joint interview with costars Will Friedle and Rider Strong while promoting their "Boy Meets World" rewatch podcast "Pod Meets World" that she doesn't think the hit TGIF sitcom addressed body image in a "positive" way.
The actor, who played protagonist Cory's (Ben Savage) childhood sweetheart and eventual wife Topanga on the show from 1993 to 2000, told People in 2010 that she had body image issues while filming the show.
"I was terrified to eat," she told the magazine at the time. According to People, Fishel weighed only 89 pounds when she was 16.
She said that at times she would take laxatives and eat a diet of only iceberg lettuce to try and lose weight. Fishel told People that when she collapsed on set one day she "realized this was not a game."
"I've learned to be comfortable in my own skin," Fishel said in 2010.
It's unclear when the incident in question happened, but "Boy Meets World" was promoting questionable messages about body image even in its final season, which aired in 2000.
In a season seven episode called "She's Having My Baby Back Ribs," Topanga and Cory's brother Eric (Friedle) go on a secret diet. When Cory overhears a conversation they're having, he assumes she's pregnant and the assumption becomes a rumor that spins out of control among their circle of friends.
The lesson at the end of the episode was meant to be encouraging, but the execution is flawed.
"We've had enough time away from the show that we can actually honestly look back at it and have adult eyes and 2022 eyes, and see how 'Boy Meets World' affected what ended up being the rest of our lives," Fishel said about why the timing of "Pod Meets World" premiering now is perfect.
Along with addressing flawed storylines, Fishel, Friedle, and Strong promised listeners on the first episode of the podcast that they will be having open conversations with cast members like Trina McGee, who has spoken out about the racism she experienced on set.
The cast has already had some of those conversations privately, and Fishel told Insider the open discussions have made them "so much closer."
"The tears that have been shed, the hugs that we've had, the closeness it has brought us, has been some of my favorite moments of the last several years," she said.
New episodes of "Pod Meets World" are released on Mondays.