Boy Meets World: Are Ben Savage & The Cast Friends In Real Life?
For seven seasons, they were besties — at least on camera. In the 1990s, Ben Savage and co-stars Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Rider Strong were the teen dream team on the hit sitcom "Boy Meets World." Fast forward a few decades, and ABC's former TGIF headliners are in their 40s and still (mostly) like family. "I think one of the greatest takeaways from 'Boy Meets World' was that you don't need to be blood to be family," Fishel told Showbiz CheatSheet in 2022. "... We are not related by blood, but we are absolutely family and we always will be. There is a nice feeling of knowing there is a bond here that literally nothing could break."
But one family member did break the bond. They were all on board for the 2014 "Girl Meets World" spinoff, but when Fishel, Friedle, and Strong later came up with the idea of launching a rewatch-style podcast, "Pod Meets World," Savage was not interested. Even worse, he began ghosting the group, they claimed.
In a 2023 interview with Variety, Fishel said Savage was adamant that a podcast talking about old "Boy Meets World" episodes was not something he wanted to be involved with but that he had no problem with the rest of them doing it. But then he stopped joining his longtime friends at fan fests and began ignoring their texts. "He just kind of disappeared from our lives," Fishel told Variety. The co-stars reiterated that there was not a major falling out with Savage but that he just stopped talking to them three years ago and they still don't know why.
Ben Savage said he can go years without speaking to his Boy Meets World castmates
Danielle Fishel has admitted there have been long spells when she hasn't spoken to Ben Savage, Will Friedle, or Rider Strong. "There have been some times where we haven't spoken for a year or two or maybe even longer, but then when we meet back up, it is as if no time has passed," she told Showbiz CheatSheet. In 2018, the foursome reunited at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con and were all smiles as they posed for a group shot.
But something happened after that — and whatever it was, Savage is not spilling. The actor spoke about his relationship with his former co-stars in a 2022 video interview with Us Weekly, in which he claimed he is still part of a group text thread. "There's a group chat, and of course, I'm always very happy for them, always wishing them the best," he said. "When you start off as kids with people ... it's like you're connected throughout your lives, so you can go one year, six months, two years, five years, and you're always connected to these people that you grew up working with. So it is a very unique and special bond."
He also didn't rule out working with his "Boy Meets World" co-stars in the future, noting that he would "never say never" to anything. But for now, Savage is focused on a political career — in 2023, he announced a run for Congress, which could explain his ghosting.