Danielle Fishel: Boy Meets World Star Recalls Creator Threatening to Fire Her

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Danielle Fishel was one of the key parts of the success of Boy Meets World.

However, the 41-year-old is opening up about how she almost got fired from the ABC classic comedy on her first day.

The star has been documenting her time on the series on the new rewatch podcast Pod Meets World.

Danielle Fishel speaks onstage at the Boy Meets World 25th Anniversary Reunion panel

Fishel dished to co-hosts Rider Strong and Will Friedle that she wasn't initially set to play Topanga.

However, she ultimately replaced the actress the show had initially set up to play the character.

Danielle Fishel attends the 2022 iHeartRadio Wango Tango at Dignity Health Sports Park

"Michael starts off the notes by saying, 'Danielle, I'm going to give you your notes all at one time, at the end and I'm going to give everyone else their notes now, because if I made everyone sit here through all of the notes I had for you, we would all be here for hours and no one would ever get to go home," she recalled of the reception to her performance from series creator. 

"So you're just going to wait for the end,'" she said.

"From that moment on, my eyes welled up because, you know, I'm now in front of everybody — all the producers, all the writers, all the cast and all eyes are on me for a second. And then he just quickly moved on."

Danielle Fishel attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon's "Emergency

The star said Jacobs delivered the notes to everyone else, before asking Fishel's mother to join at a table on the set.

"He went through every single one of my lines and what he wanted and what I wasn't doing right and how slow I needed to talk," she said.

Friedle added that the incident clearly "still affects" Fishel today, with Fishell saying she was "sweating profusely" as she recalled the story.

"What I know specifically was said is, 'All I know is, if you don't come back tomorrow doing this entirely differently, you are also not going to be here,' referencing the girl I had replaced," she added.

Danielle Fishel arrives at Club Tacori 2013

Fishel said that she and her mother stayed up until late in order to go over "every single line."

The star said that Jacobs praised her following the rehearsal.

"Let's give Danielle a round of applause, you did exactly what I asked of you. Thank you, thank you. Congratulations, it was wonderful," Fishel recalled.

She went on to star in the show from 1993 to 2000 and returned as Topanga on Girl Meets World.

Actress Danielle Fishel attends the Maxim Hot 100 Party at Create

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Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.

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