What Happened Between Danielle Fishel and Maitland Ward? Here’s When the “Boy Meets World ”Stars’ Feud Began — and How Ben Savage Ties In

Drama between Boy Meets World stars Danielle Fishel and Maitland Ward has been seemingly brewing behind the scenes since the ABC show ended in 2000.

The pair addressed their alleged beef on a Feb. 24 episode of Pod Meets World — a Boy Meets World rewatch podcast Fishel hosts alongside her former costars Rider Strong and Will Friedle. Ward worked alongside the trio for two seasons on the coming-of-age sitcom.

Roughly an hour into the episode, Fishel moved the conversation in a serious direction, asking Ward, "Do you hate us?"

Ward denied this sentiment but accused the actress of unfriending her on Facebook and ignoring her on the set of Girls Meets World in 2014. She went on to chalk up Fishel's behavior to jealousy, considering Ward was getting "a lot of attention at that time" for transitioning from acting to the adult film industry.

Fishel attempted to convince Ward that it was all a misunderstanding — one she had hoped they could have cleared up off-air, rather than in a public forum. During their discussion, Ward also brought up former costar Ben Savage, who stopped talking to the cast in 2020.

Here's everything to know about Danielle Fishel and Maitland Ward's rumored feud, including what Ward has said in the press about her Boy Meets World costar.

When did Danielle Fishel and Maitland Ward work together?

The actresses were both featured on Boy Meets World for two seasons. Fishel played Topanga Lawrence, while Ward, who joined the cast for seasons 6 and 7, portrayed Rachel McGuire. According to both women, they weren't close friends while working together.

After the series ended in 2000, the pair didn't see or speak to each other again until Ward's wedding in 2006, Fishel recalled on Pod Meets World.

Their next interaction took place in 2014 when Ward visited the set of Girl Meets World — a spinoff of Boy Meets World, which ran for three seasons and followed Topanga and Cory Matthews (Savage) as they raised their children. Ward did not appear on the show.

What did Maitland Ward say about Danielle Fishel after Boy Meets World?

Over the years, Ward has been candid about her relationship with Fishel in interviews and her book, Rated X: How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood, which was published in 2022.

"Danielle does not like me. I think it has to do with the sexier stuff," she told TMZ in September of that year before claiming that Fishel unfriended her on Facebook.

Ward discovered they were no longer friends on the social media platform back in 2013 when she attempted to reach out to Fishel ahead of her wedding to Tim Belusko.

"I wrote her a note to say congratulations, you're gonna be beautiful. She didn't respond to it," Ward recalled.

Fishel later addressed the miscommunication when Ward appeared on Pod Meets World in February 2025.

"I did not unfriend you on Facebook. I truly don’t know how that happened. I’m not a Facebook person. I barely ever use Facebook," she said, explaining why she never even saw the message.

What happened between Danielle Fishel and Maitland Ward on Pod Meets World?

In addition to openly discussing the Facebook mixup, Ward accused Fishel of being rude to her when she visited the set of Girl Meets World in 2014.

"I think that you hate me because you wouldn’t speak to me when we’d go to the Girl Meets World [set] and that was hurtful," Ward explained.

Fishel responded, "I don't feel as though I was not good with you, but I definitely didn't have a relationship with you that was like, 'Oh my gosh, my long lost friend Maitland.' "

The actress explained that her demeanor was likely due to working on a "very difficult set" where she felt very "ostracized [and] criticized."

Things got increasingly tense when Ward said she believed Fishel, Strong and Friedle "hated" their estranged costar Savage and Boy Meets World creator Michael Jacobs.

"We absolutely do not hate either of them," Fishel said. "I can't stand the fact that [Ben] won't speak to us."

Why did Ben Savage stop talking to the Boy Meets World cast?

After nearly a decade of working together on Boy Meets World and its spinoff, Fishel told Variety in June 2023 that she and the rest of the cast had lost contact with Savage. According to the actress, he stopped speaking to them in 2020 without warning.

"He just kind of disappeared from our lives," Fishel said, adding that Savage was supportive when her older son was born early in 2019. “We were just so, so close, especially during that time. He was checking in with me regularly.”

“He ghosted us,” she added.

In the same interview, Friedle opened up about the “sore subject” that he was still trying to come to terms with. Friedle and Savage starred together in the original show and its spinoff, in which they played brothers Eric and Corey Matthews, respectively.

“I wish I knew why, to this day,” he told the outlet. “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 explained that he didn’t give up easily and let Savage know that, but he never got a response. “I tried and tried and tried for months,” he said.

Fast forward to February 2025, Maitland touched on the topic during her discussion with Fishel on Pod Meets World. Both Fishel and Friedle disputed that they “hated” Savage, with the latter revealing that there was still no communication between them.

“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,” Friedle said. “He won't speak to us. I can show you the last three years, literally, of messages. And in the middle of a conversation with Ben, he just bailed on me.”

Savage appears to have stepped away from acting and instead, he has expressed interest in government, running for Congress in 2023. He also married his wife Tessa Angermeier that same year but Savage has yet to comment on his relationship with his former costars.

Where do Danielle Fishel and Maitland Ward stand now?

The former costars ended the podcast on a fairly neutral note. Fishel thanked Ward for her time and suggested she return for another episode.

Once Ward had signed off, Fishel expressed some resentment toward her for wanting to air out their grievances on the podcast. Ward was said to have turned down a private phone call with Fishel in favor of using their conflict to "rock the stats" and drum up press.

"To me, this felt like an opportunity for her to get press by having conflict. I am just not your girl to do that," Fishel said. "She thought it was disingenuous for me to reach out to her, I think wanting to do it for stats is disingenuous."

After the podcast aired, Ward spoke with Too Fab about the confrontation.

"I'm just surprised by the whole situation. I did not come on that show to create controversy," she told the outlet. "I thought like any problems we had, we would talk in a conversational way, so I wasn't expecting such a jarring shift."

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