During an otherwise uneventful conversation on the Pod Meets World podcast on February 23, former Boy Meets World costars Maitland Ward and Danielle Fishel got into it. Like, they really got into it.
At one point, Fishel asked Ward point-blank if she “hates” the rest of the cast, including Will Friedle, Fishel’s co-host on the pod. Ward replied that she doesn’t. Instead, she said to Fishel, “I think that you hate me, because you wouldn’t speak to me on Girl Meets World, and that was hurtful.” After that, the conversation turned into a full-blown argument, which got pretty granular.
In 2013, for example, Ward sent Fishel a congratulatory message on Facebook for her engagement, but realized that she and Fishel were no longer Facebook friends. Fishel explained that she rarely uses the platform, and didn’t see Ward’s message until 2022, when she asked Friedle to send her Ward’s number so that she could apologize. Fishel claimed Ward told Friedle that she would save the conversation for the podcast, because it would be great for ratings.
But the argument went deeper than Facebook. Here’s the Maitland Ward and Boy Meets World cast feud, explained.
Ward thinks Fishel was threatened by her.
On the podcast, Ward said Fishel had “an attitude” towards her on the set of Girl Meets World. “There was some beef between us, and I didn’t get it,” she said. “I didn’t know if you thought I was trying to steal attention… I was genuinely confused why we wouldn’t be good.” She continued, “You didn’t like the fact that I was getting a lot of attention at that time and going off in my own space and taking away that attention.” Fishel pointed out that she was on the cover of Maxim in 2014.
Ward had speculated that Fishel bore her ill-will, possibly having to do with Ward’s career transition into porn, in her 2022 book, Rated X: How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood. Ward told TMZ, “I think she’s more straight-laced about things and I think she didn’t like that I was doing a lot of sexy things and getting a lot of attention for it. I think that was kind of a competition for us.”
Ward has also claimed that Boy Meets World tried, and failed, to set up a rivalry between herself and Fishel.
In an interview with E! News in 2024, Ward said, “A lot of people said Danielle would hate me because I was the girl coming in. But she didn’t. She was very nice to me when I came in. It’s weird that people would like, set that up.” Ward said producers would tell her, “Oh yeah, she’s gonna hate you because you’re the new girl and you’re tall and like, the sexy girl or whatever.”
Fishel isn’t the only cast-member Ward has talked about in public.
After Trina McGree announced her pregnancy at age 54 in 2024, Ward speculated that it was a “publicity stunt.” Speaking to TMZ, Ward said, “I knew [Trina] when she had three kids, when she was pregnant back on the show. Actually, I came on just after she had had the last baby.” She continued, “I hate to say it, but my first thought was, ‘Is this April Fools’ Day?’ But I read the post and stuff… I hope that’s not a publicity stunt.”
What’s going on with Ben Savage?
On the podcast, Ward also claimed there was tension because of Fishel and Friedle’s relationship with Ben Savage. “I think there’s a divide too because you hate Ben and you guys hate Michael,” she said, which Friedle immediately pushed back on. “Ben is one of the most important people I’ve ever met in my life, and I can’t stand the fact that he won’t speak to us. And that’s what it is: He won’t speak to us,” Friedle said.
Friedle, Fishel, and Rider Strong told Variety in 2023 that Savage no longer speaks to them. Fishel said in that interview, “He just kind of disappeared from our lives.”
Meanwhile, Ward has seemingly maintained a relationship with Savage, who, she said, was supportive of her porn career. “Ben was definitely somebody who was supportive,” she told E! News in 2023. “I think it was cool. He’s in politics and he stood by the fact that I’m in porn. Some people shy away from that and feel that sense of taboo. It surprised me.” Now, she said, their relationship is akin to old high school friends.
What has Fishel and the rest of the cast said about Ward?
At the end of the podcast episode, Fishel reiterated that she does not hate Ward. But she did conclude, “Similarly to the way she decided when Girl Meets World and all that stuff was in the press, that that was an opportunity for her to make a name for herself in cosplay play and in role-playing, she felt like this was an opportunity for her to get press by having conflict, which I am just not your girl to do that.”
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