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The Boy Meets World rewatch podcast, Pod Meets World, took an unexpectedly intense turn during its latest episode. A staple of 1990s television, Boy Meets World followed the coming-of-age journey of Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) as he navigated life, love, and friendship alongside best friends Shawn (Rider Strong) and Topanga (Danielle Fishel). In 2014, Disney Channel revived the franchise with Girl Meets World, a sequel series centered on Cory and Topanga’s daughter, Riley. Ward joined the cast of Boy Meets World as Rachel McGuire in season 6.
On Pod Meets World‘s February 23 episode, Ward confronted co-host Danielle Fishel about their strained relationship (via Variety). Ward expressed her long-held feelings of exclusion, particularly referencing an uncomfortable moment during a visit to the Girl Meets World set in 2015. The conversation, alongside co-hosts Will Friedle and Rider Strong, spiraled into debates about perceived social media slights, differing memories of their time on set, and Ward’s criticism of the podcast’s portrayal of Boy Meets World and its creators. Read the conversation below:
Danielle Fishel: Do you hate us?
Maitland Ward: No, I do not hate you. I think that you hate me, because you wouldn’t speak to me on ‘Girl Meets World,’ and that was hurtful.
In 2013, Ward sent Fishel a heartfelt message on Facebook, only to later discover that they were no longer connected, as she had been removed from Fishel’s friends list. However, Fishel, who rarely uses Facebook, didn’t see the message until nearly a decade later in 2022. It was only after Will Friedle reached out to Ward about appearing on the podcast that he mentioned the message to Fishel, prompting her to look it up and ask Ward for her phone number.
Fishel: You wrote back to Will, ‘No, let’s just save it for the podcast. It’ll be great for the ratings.’ I believe the official quote was ‘rock the stats.’
Ward: You did not speak to me on the set of Girl Meets World. You had an attitude about it. There was some beef between us, and I didn’t get it. I didn’t know. I didn’t know if you thought I was trying to steal attention… I was genuinely confused why we wouldn’t be good.
Fishel: It was a very difficult set. Let’s put it this way, the memories we have of the fun set of ‘Boy Meets World’ were not the memories or the fun set of ‘Girl Meets World.’ I went into it expecting it to be, and it wasn’t. It was a rather tumultuous place. I felt very ostracized. I felt very criticized. I felt a lot of different things being on that set… I am sorry that you thought I had something personally against you.
Source: Variety/Pod Meets World