‘Boy Meets World’ Star Says Her Weight Was Turned Into A Joke

Danielle Fishel says there was a point during her time on “Boy Meets World” when she felt forced to make fun of her own appearance.

The actor, who played Topanga Lawrence on the ’90s ABC sitcom, said the show’s producers and writers called her into an office to “tell” her they were going to write an episode about her real-life weight gain.

“It wasn’t really like they asked,” Fishel said during an episode of her podcast, “Pod Meets World,” released Monday.

Fishel explained that at the time, her co-star Will Friedle, who played Eric Matthews on the TGIF staple, had also visibly gained weight. So, she says, the show decided to exploit his body for laughs as well.

“Will had gained some weight,” Fishel said. “I had gained some weight. [And the writers said], ‘Obviously, you guys have gained a little bit of weight, so we’re gonna write an episode about it. And we just wanted you to know. And here’s what it’s gonna be. It’s gonna be really funny.’”

Fishel said the “hardest part” of the meeting was that Friedle seemed game to humiliate himself. (Friedle is a co-host of “Pod Meets World,” but did not appear on Monday’s episode.)

“Will very much was like, ‘Oh, yeah. I’m totally fine with it.’ Just immediately. Which, I know now, he was very insecure, and it was really painful for him,” Fishel said. “And for me, it was more like, ‘Oh, wow.’ Like, I didn’t — no one had said anything to me about it. I had been aware that I had gained weight, but I was still, you know, I was a size 4.”

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, these people think I’ve gained enough weight [that] we have to write an entire episode about my weight gain,’” she said. “And I have to say I’m fine with it, because they didn’t even present to me another alternative. And even if they did, I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable being like, ‘Yeah. I don’t wanna do that.’”

Fishel said the meeting altered her relationship with her body.

“It was just in my head, forever,” she said.

The episode, “She’s Having My Baby Back Ribs,” aired in 2000 and focused on Topanga being insecure about her body. In the opening scene, Topanga directly asks Eric: “Do you think I’m fat?”

Eric, who’d just unbuttoned his pants to sit down, cheerfully replies: “Yeah.”

Topanga then tries to convince Eric that they should go on a diet together, as Eric stuffs his face with food.

Although lazy cracks about weight are sprinkled throughout the the episode, the most egregious scene occurs toward the end, when Topanga has to explain to her husband Cory (Ben Savage) — and an entire room of people — that she’s not pregnant, just “fat.” The show then tries to spin the previous half hour’s worth of fatphobia into a lesson about unfair beauty standards.

“Unfortunately, we live in a society where they tell us we have to look a certain way, so we’re all under pressure to live up to unrealistic expectations,” says the show’s sage character Mr. Feeny (William Daniels).

Almost immediately after Mr. Feeny drops these words of wisdom, Eric cracks another fat joke while gorging on food.

Representatives for ABC Entertainment and Walt Disney Studios did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. HuffPost reached out to a lawyer for Michael Jacobs, co-creator of “Boy Meets World,” but did not receive a response.

Speaking on her podcast two years ago, Fishel said Jacobs humiliated her at a staff meeting when she was 12 years old and had just joined the show.

In 2010, Fishel told People that while she was on “Boy Meets World,” she became so obsessed with her weight that she developed disordered eating, which included taking laxatives, eating only iceberg lettuce and occasionally throwing up.

“I was terrified to eat,” Fishel told the magazine.

If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for support.