How Topanga Actress Danielle Fishel Really Felt About ‘Boy Meets World’ Weight Gain Episode

Danielle Fishel says she didn’t have a choice but to address her weight gain that was written into a storyline in the final season of Boy Meets World. The actress reminisced on the ordeal while rewatching the episode on her Pod Meets World podcast. She spoke about the experience and recalled how she felt while chatting with Full House star, Candace Cameron Bure. The 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, played by Ben Savage, also questions if she’s pregnant in the episode.  

As it turns out, she was told about the storyline and had no input, noting that 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.” 

She said they 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.’”

According to the actress, Friedle immediately agreed. “He was very insecure, and it was really painful and hurtful for him,” she remembered. She also had her reservations but says she didn’t speak up because she didn’t feel as if she had another choice. 

“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.’ And even if they did, I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable being like, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to do that.’”

Cameron Bure was shocked. She said that her “jaw was hanging to the floor” as her friend detailed the ordeal.