Key Points
-
Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong shared a “romantic” moment on the Boy Meets World set.
-
While in Disney World during season 3, the pair spun around together in the rain.
-
Fishel had a crush on Strong at the time, but he had no idea.
Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong might’ve had a brief thing while filming Boy Meets World.
In their new memoir, Book Meets World: The Definitive Inside Story of the Hit Sitcom Boy Meets World, the costars reveal they shared a “romantic” moment while shooting the show’s iconic Disney World episode, “The Happiest Show on Earth.”
The season 3 episode centers around Cory (Ben Savage) and Shawn (Strong) secretly going down to Florida so Cory can win back Topanga (Fishel) after a breakup. Topanga is there on a school trip with Ronnie “Lips” Waterman, played by guest star Andrew Keegan, and Cory is worried she’ll fall for him.
In real life, however, it was Fishel who was maybe trying to win over BFF Strong. While shooting the episode in 1996, Fishel was harboring a “full-blown crush” on Strong, who had no idea of her feelings for him.
“I remember we were sitting in a van, waiting out the Florida rain. I said, ‘Danielle, let’s just go,'” Strong writes in the book. The teens, at the time, hopped out of the vehicle, grabbed hands, and spun around in the rain together, in what the book describes as a “very romantic moment.”
Despite their connection, Fishel never told Strong how she really felt. But apparently, Keegan could sense it as he himself was pining for Fishel.
Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong attend the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Festival
Credit: Greg Doherty/Getty
Fishel ended up telling Strong about her crush 30 years later, during a 2022 episode of their show Pod Meets World. Strong and cohost Will Friedle both gasped when she revealed the secret, with Strong insisting, “That’s not true! You’ve never told me that.”
Fishel went on to say that it was very much true and “it started maybe later in season 1 and definitely through season two.”
“You know one of my favorite things about Rider, and it still stands to this day: Rider is very effusive,” she added of her “smart” costar. “He will tell you how he feels and he’s very free with his compliments, but he doesn’t throw them out willy-nilly. When Rider compliments you, it is thoughtful, it has meaning. You can tell it’s coming from a very real place.
Fishel explained that she was probably too “stereotypical L.A. girl” for Strong, but when he complimented her during an acting class, she thought, “Oh my god, I love you.” She added that they developed “a very nice, deep friendship” over the years, filled with “meaningful conversations.”
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.
Boy Meets World ran for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000. Fishel and Strong also reunited for Girl Meets World, which aired from 2014 to 2017.
Fishel married her current husband Jensen Karp in 2018. They have two sons, Adler, 7, and Keaton, 5. Strong has a son named Indigo, 11, with his wife Alexandra Barreto, whom he married in October 2013.
Fishel, Strong, Friedle, and contributor Emily Longeretta share more stories in Book Meets World, out now.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly