Danielle Fishel is speaking out about a “Boy Meets World” storyline that focused on her weight.
Fishel, who hosts a rewatch podcast with former costars Will Friedle and Rider Strong called “Pod Meets World,” addressed the problematic narrative involving her character during the Aug. 12 episode, which featured “Full House” star Candace Cameron Bure as a guest.
During the seventh and final season of “Boy Meets World,” one episode titled “She’s Having My Baby Back Ribs,” focuses on Fishel and Friedle’s characters, Topanga and Eric, going on a diet after noticing they’ve gained weight. Topanga’s husband Cory (Ben Savage) also speculates that his wife is pregnant after she struggles to fit into her jeans.
Fishel reminisced about the storyline while chatting with Bure — who filled in for Friedle — and explained how she was approached about the episode beforehand.
She said one day the show’s creatives “called me into the office to tell me they were going to. It wasn’t really like they asked. They just kind of said, ‘We just want you to know…’ — it was Will and I. Will had gained some weight. I had gained some weight.”
Fishel explained that the two of them were told, “‘Obviously, you guys have gained a little bit of weight. So we’re going to write an episode about it, and we just wanted you to know and here’s what it’s going to be. It’s going be really funny.’”
Bure was stunned by how the situation was handled.
“Do you see my jaw on the floor right now?” Bure asked. “What?”
Fishel recalled Friedle agreeing to the idea at the time. She said she now knows “he was very insecure, and it was really painful and hurtful for him.”
She said she also felt self-conscious when she heard about the direction for her character.
“For me, it was more like, ‘Oh, wow. 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,” she shared. “So I remember thinking, ‘Wow, these people think I’ve gained enough weight, we have to write an entire episode about my weight gain.’”
Fishel said she felt like she had to go along with it because she wasn’t given another option.
“And even if they did, I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable being like, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to do that,’” she added.
She said the experience has had a lasting impact on her and replays in her head.
The 43-year-old actor revealed she still struggles with “disordered thoughts about food and disordered thoughts about working out.”
“It has taken a lifetime to get to a place where I feel like, ‘OK, I’ve got a handle on it,’” she continued. “And even still, the bad habits and the bad thoughts can creep up and I have to rein it back in.”
The “Pod Meets World” co-hosts, including Friedle, previously spoke to TODAY.com in 2022 about coming to terms with growing up on the show. Strong, 44, said he wasn’t able to unpack working on the series until he was around 40 years old.
“And once I was completely confident in those things, then the idea of going to conventions or talking about it on a podcast doesn’t bother me because it’s a reflection,” Strong said at the time. “It’s a big part of my life, but it’s not something I need to combat anymore. And that just came with age and experience.”
On their recent podcast episode, Bure also reflected on growing up on television while playing D.J. Tanner on “Full House.” She said she had a difficult time as a child actor, particularly when she reached puberty, and that she tackled a weight loss storyline, as well.
“That’s when girls really change,” she explained. “I mean, the timeline can be different for anyone. But when you’re going through puberty I think that, for me, 15, 16, and then having episodes, like, talk about your weight.”
When the sitcom, which ran from 1987 to 1995, aired, she said fans would approach her and comment on her appearance.
Bure, 48, said that she was known as “the chubby cheeked girl and a lot of people loved that I was. And I can look back and go, like, I was just a normal, average girl.”
She continued, “And yet you meet people, and they’re always, like, ‘You’re so much thinner in person.’ And you’re just like, ‘Is that all people see? Do they just see my chubby cheeks?’”
Bure pointed out that many teenagers struggle with their insecurities, but it was especially challenging dealing with her doubts as a child star.
She said she would like to go back and hug the 15-year-old version of herself and say, ‘It’s OK! Don’t listen to anyone.”
Bure was around 15 years old when the “Full House” team wrote an episode that was centered on her weight. In a Season Four episode called “Shape Up,” Kimmy (Andrea Barber) decides to throw a pool party for her birthday. D.J. spends the episode starving herself and constantly working out to have her ideal swimsuit body. Later, D.J. collapses during a workout.
Unlike Fishel, Bure said she and her parents were asked if they felt comfortable with the storyline before it was written.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, sure,’” she said. “But when you’re in it and doing it, it feels a little awkward.”
She also revealed that she lost 20 pounds in between seasons.
“I came in losing 20 pounds, but they thought it was so great,” she shared. “They were like, ‘Oh, on the opening titles, why don’t we have you on an exercise bike, like, just to promote that?’”
Decades later, she said she is still fine with the creative decision.
“Looking back, I don’t think that was bad,” she said. “I mean, I really put a lot of hard work and effort into losing 20 pounds.”
