The ‘Boy Meets World’ star says her weight has been turned into a joke

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

The actor, who played Topanga Lawrence on the 1990s 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 real-life weight gain.

“It wasn’t quite what they asked,” Fishel said during an episode of her podcast, “Pod Meets World,” launched on Monday.

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

“Will had put on weight,” Fishel said. “I gained some weight. (And the writers said), “Obviously, you guys have put on a little weight, so we’re going to write an episode about that. And I just wanted you to know. And here is what it will be. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

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

“Will was like, ‘Oh, yeah. I’m fine with that. Only immediately. Which, I know now, was very unsafe and it was really painful for him,” Fishel said. “And for me it was more like, ‘Oh, wow.’ I didn’t – no one told me anything about it. I was aware that I had gained weight, but I was still, you know, a size 4.”

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, these people think I’ve gained enough weight (that) we have to write a whole episode about weight gain,'” she said. “And I have to say I’m fine because they didn’t even present me with another alternative. And even if they did, I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable saying, “Yeah. I don’t want to do that.”

Fishel said the encounter changed 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 asks Eric directly, “Do you think I’m fat?”

Eric, who had just unbuttoned his pants to sit down, cheerfully replies, “Yes.”

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

Although lazy crack about the weight are sprinkled throughout the episode, the most egregious scene it comes towards 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 turn the previous half hour of fatphobia into a lesson in 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 Mr. Feeny (William Daniels).

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

Representatives for ABC Entertainment and Walt Disney Studios did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. HuffPost reached out to an attorney for “Boy Meets World” co-creator Michael Jacobs, but did not hear back.

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

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

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

If you are experiencing an eating disorder, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for support.