Danielle Fishel is not in touch with her former Boy Meets World costar Ben Savage at the moment — but that doesn’t mean she’s throwing any shade at him.
The actress, 42, took to Instagram Story on Monday, September 18, to address a statement she made at a recent Boy Meets World panel, which took place over the weekend at ‘90s Con at the Tampa Convention Center in Florida.
“Nice clickbait but I wasn’t speaking about anyone who wasn’t on that stage with me. It was a love letter to them and not a passive aggressive attack on anyone else. Do better pls,” she wrote alongside a screenshot of a story about how Fishel praised the cast for maintaining their close-knit connection. The outlet tried to connect her comments to her apparent falling out with Savage.
During the Saturday, September 16, panel, Fishel was joined by Rider Strong, Matthew Lawrence, Will Friedle, Anthony Tyler Quinn, Betsy Randle, Lee Noris, Trina McGee, William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett Daniels, as she discussed their commitment to staying in each other’s lives.
“Over this many years and this much time together in different work atmospheres, you have fights, you have falling outs, you have moments where you come back together,” Fishel said. “Because we are constantly put back together, there have been times where we’ve needed space from each other, and we’ve taken long distances.”
She continued: “Yet, when you really commit to a relationship, when you really commit to this idea that we are always going to be in each other’s lives, the amount of growth and grace and forgiveness and compassion and true knowing of each other that we now have — that we never would have had had we written each other off and said ‘I’m done with you, I don’t want to see you again.’”
Fishel concluded by noting how a “commitment to a relationship” could be “such a lesson” for others.
Boy Meets World, which ran from 1993 to 2000, followed Cory (Savage) and his friends from middle school through their college years. The sitcom received a revival titled Girl Meets World in 2014, which introduced viewers to Cory and Topanga’s daughter.
Since Boy Meets World came to an end, a majority of the cast members have reunited for various projects such as the Girl Meets World series, rewatch podcasts, convention appearances and more. However, Friedle, 47, Strong, 43, and Fishel surprised fans when they revealed that they were no longer in contact with Savage, 43.
“He disappeared — I wish I knew why, to this day,” Friedle told Variety in a June interview. “We didn’t have a fight. There’s no falling out. There was no animosity. He just woke up one day and decided, ‘I don’t want this person in my life anymore.’”
Friedle recalled sending a text, which read, “I’ve known you for 30 years, what’s going on? I’m gonna call you every day until you tell me not to call you anymore.” He eventually gave up after “a month” of not hearing back from Savage.
“I’ve known him since he was 11 years old, and we have a shared history. And we were doing these conventions together, and we were getting to know each other as adults, and then he just kind of went, ‘I’m done with you,’” Friedle continued while calling their estrangement a “sore subject” for him. “I tried and tried and tried for months, until finally my wife was like, ‘Why are you doing this to yourself? He obviously doesn’t want you in his life.’”
Fishel, meanwhile, said Savage was very present in her life until recent months.
“If there’s anything this podcast has taught me, it’s that everyone is on their own journey and having their own experiences that can be perceived many different ways, depending on your POV,” she explained. “Speaking for myself, Ben and I may be estranged right now and we may have our complaints about each other, but I will always love Ben and want what’s best for him. I don’t think this is the end of our story — but time will tell.”
One month after the costars addressed their apparent fallout with Savage, the actor took to social media to announce his marriage to Tessa Angermeier. “Always and forever,” he captioned an Instagram photo from the couple’s nuptials.
Savage has primarily used his platform to document his transition into politics. He announced in March his plan to run as a Democrat in California’s 30th congressional district. Savage has also shown support for the ongoing duel WGA and SAG strikes.
“Standing with my fellow SAG-AFTRA members and union members across the country fighting for fair wages and fair contracts,” he wrote in July alongside a photo of him on the picket line in Los Angeles.
