‘Boy Meets World’: Ben Savage Just Got Engaged

Boy Meets World star Ben Savage and his longtime girlfriend Tessa Angermeier began the new year by getting engaged. Savage, 42, shared the exciting news on Instagram on Jan. 11. The actor and Angermeier started dating in 2018 and have kept their relationship out of the spotlight.

Savage shared a photo of the two standing in front of a pond in Owensville, Indiana, with Andermeier clearly sporting a diamond ring on her finger. “The best is yet to come,” Savage captioned the post. “They are both very grateful and enjoying this exciting time with their families and friends,” Savage’s representative later told PEOPLE.

Savage’s post quickly earned hundreds of comments from his friends and fans. “Congratulations,” Danica McKellar, who co-starred in The Wonder Years with Savage’s brother Fred Savage, wrote. “Congrats,” The Dirt star Rebekah Graf wrote. Boy Meets World fans also jokingly pointed out that Angermeier is not Danielle Fishel’s Topanga, Savage’s onscreen love interest in the series.

Savage and Angermeier started dating in 2018. Since then, Angermeier has popped up in only a few of Savage’s Instagram posts. She was by his side when he announced his unsuccessful run for a seat on the West Hollywood city council. On the day after Christmas, Savage shared a festive photo with Angermeier, writing, “Hope you had the hap, hap, happiest Christmas.”

Savage played Cory Matthews on all seven seasons of Boy Meets World, which aired on ABC from 1993 to 2000. In 2014, he returned to the role in the Disney Channel sequel series, Girl Meets World, in which Cory and Topanga are married and are parents to Riley (Rowan Blanchard). The sequel series ran for three seasons, ending in January 2017. Both Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World are streaming on Disney+.

In a 2021 interview with PEOPLE, Savage said one of the biggest love lessons fans could learn from Cory and Topanga’s romance was to follow your heart. He brought up Topanga’s decision to live in Philadelphia so she could stay close to Cory in Season 4 as an example. “That’s easier said than done,” he said. “It’s not an easy thing to do, and obviously it requires sacrifice – but I think, in the end, that’s what makes people happy.”

Although Savage’s run for local office ended in defeat, he still has high hopes for his political future. In January, Savage filed paperwork to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. He plans to run for California’s 30th congressional district, which is currently represented by Rep. Adam Schiff. The seat could be up for grabs in 2024 if Schiff runs to fill Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat should she retire. Feinstein has not formally announced plans to retire yet.