Strong and his teen sitcom castmates Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle shared their harrowing Hollywood experiences around body image.

*Boy Meets World *star Rider Strong confesses ‘shame and fear’ of aging: ‘I’m letting the world down’

Strong and his teen sitcom castmates Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle shared their harrowing Hollywood experiences around body image.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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May 14, 2026 4:19 p.m. ET

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Rider Strong in Austin in March. Credit:

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- Rider Strong says he's struggled with "shame and fear" around aging.

- "Regardless of body, people judge us for getting older," Strong shared on a recent episode of the *Boy Meets World *rewatch podcast *Pod Meets World*.

- Eric Friedle added that he'll "never be comfortable in my own skin," while Danielle Fishel opened up about pregnancy helping to change her self image for the better.

The *Boy Meets World** *cast survived child stardom, but not unscarred.

Rider Strong testified to the lasting damage early fame can have on actors' minds and bodies on Monday's episode of his *Boy Meets World *rewatch podcast, *Pod Meets World**.*

When asked by psychotherapist Dr. Hillary Goldsher how he and cohosts Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle have managed to "decouple your sense of self-worth from your body," Strong plainly replied, "I don't think I have. I never even had an episode written about it, but I just have a constant shame and fear about how I look, and feeling like I'm letting the world down."

Danielle Fishel, Ben Savage, Strong, and Will Friedle for 'Boy Meets World'.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

"Regardless of body, people judge us for getting older," Strong mused. The 46-year-old actor who began portraying rebellious Shawn Hunter on the teen sitcom when he was only 13 said that some fans seem upset at the cast for "just having the gall to keep aging, and not be 13, or 15, or whatever we were in their mind when they knew us the best, and liked us, and connected with our characters. I can't do anything about that."

Friedle, now 49, who began playing the archetypal older brother Eric Matthews when he was 17, concurred wholeheartedly. "I'll never be comfortable in my skin. It just won't happen," he said. "So I'd love to get to that point where I'm okay with how I look, but I never will. I have this idea in my head that I know is basically unattainable for somebody like me, because I work out a lot and it's just not my body genetics. And it's fine."

Fishel played the scholarly Topanga Lawrence across the series' run, beginning in 1993 when she was 12. Now 45, the *Dancing With the Stars *alum postulated that Friedle has "active body dysmorphia. He sees himself on screen and he doesn't see the same person that we see. And I think we all probably do to a certain extent because I know Rider does too."

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Strong in 1993.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Fishel has been outspoken about her struggles with body image stemming directly from her time on *Boy Meets World *in the past. In April, she told *Us Weekly** *that her final season on the sitcom is now "hard to watch" because, due to criticism from fans and tacit clues from series producers, she internalized the idea that "my body was a problem."

"I remember around the time of [1998’s] prom episode being aware that they didn’t want me wearing something sleeveless," she recalled. "There was this feeling that I was no longer attractive because I had gained weight. I just wanted to be anywhere other than on set."

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But on Monday's *Pod Meets World*, she recalled how pregnancy helped change her own internal narrative. Fishel said she "burst into hysterical tears and sobbed" after being weighed by her OBGYN, who told her she was gaining weight too fast. "She wrote in my chart, 'Has body dysmorphia,' and never again through any time of my pregnancy talked to me about my weight."

After the birth of her sons — sons Adler, 6, and Keaton, 4 — Fishel said she "did gain a new sense of appreciation for what my body is capable of," inspiring thoughts like, "Man, I'm so much more. I am so much more than just this outer body form."

You can listen to Strong, Fishel, and Friedle's full conversation on *Pod Meets World *above.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW News”