Danielle Fishel. CraSH/imageSPACE/Shutterstock
Boy Meets World alum Danielle Fishel got candid about the harrowing experience of being sexualized as a teenager — and how it’s affected her personal relationships over the years.
“I’ve always been able to hold a conversation with an adult. I can look you in the eye. I’ve always been those things,” Fishel, 42, said during a June episode of her “Pod Meets World” podcast. “But in a romantic, male-gaze sense, I should not have been outwardly talked about at 14, 15, 16 years old. And I was, even directly to me.”
The former child star — who portrayed Topanga Lawrence on the ABC sitcom from 1993 to 2000 — revealed that people would often have her “18th birthday on their calendar.” She recalled that one male studio executive in particular “specifically told me he had a certain calendar month in his bedroom” from a photoshoot she had done at age 16.
“Getting adult male attention as a teenage girl, I didn’t think of it as creepy or weird,” she confessed. “I felt like it was validation that I was mature. And I was an adult. And they were seeing me for the way I was not a number on the page. In hindsight, that was very wrong.”
While her cohosts, Rider Strong and Will Friedle — who costarred alongside the Arizona native on BMW as Shawn Hunter and Eric Matthews, respectively — pointed out that Fishel was “very mature” and “advanced” for her age, they agreed that she should “never” have been viewed as an “object of desire” at such a young age.
Fishel — who famously dated Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Lance Bass in the ’90s and early ’00s — explained that being sexualized as a teen made her “bad at boundaries.” She shared that it took her “years” before she was able to “connect the dots” on how it negatively impacted her own personal and romantic relationships.
“I had no expectations on how you’re supposed to talk to me or treat me,” she continued. “It wasn’t until I was in my late 30s that I went, ‘OK I’ve had failed relationship after failed relationship and I could easily point the finger, but at the end of the day I’m the one picking these people and what am I doing wrong.’”
Fishel — who was previously married to Tim Belusko until their 2016 split — tied the knot with husband Jensen Karp in November 2018 after getting engaged earlier that year.
Ben Savage, Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle. Touchstone Tv/Kobal/Shutterstock
One month before exchanging vows with her husband, 43, the Girl Meets World alum gushed to Us Weekly about their romance.
“I am [on] cloud nine. He is the most amazing partner anybody could ever hope for,” she told Us at the time. “And so I’m just thrilled. I’m really looking forward to building a life with him.”
On their one-year wedding anniversary, Karp shared in his own tribute to his wife and the life they had built together. (The pair share two sons, whom they welcomed in June 2019 and August 2021, respectively.)
“One year ago today, I married the greatest person on earth. I know people say stuff like that all the time, and it’s hyperbole — but I truly believe she is. She has made every day brighter, every joke funnier and every hug more comfortable,” the filmmaker wrote via Instagram at the time. “We’ve been through so much in the past year, including welcoming our young Marv Albert into this world, and yet you’ve been able to take on the job of mother with even more passion and highly detailed Navy SEAL-like precision than I could have expected. You’re my partner, my best friend and my wife for one year already! Love you very much.”
