Current:Home > ContactBoy Meets World's Original Topanga Actress Alleges She Was Fired for Not Being "Pretty Enough" -Global Capital Summit
Boy Meets World's Original Topanga Actress Alleges She Was Fired for Not Being "Pretty Enough"
View
Date:2025-04-22 10:41:08
Before there was Danielle Fishel, there was Bonnie Morgan.
The Rings actress recently opened up for the first time about being cast and subsequently fired from Boy Meets World after one day of production, which her alleging her quick tenure on the sitcom came down to a decision from director David Trainer.
On a June 26 episode of the podcast Pod Meets World, co-hosted by Fishel and fellow Boy Meets World alumni Rider Strong and Will Friedle, Morgan explained the reason she was given for her firing, saying, "The director said I couldn't take direction, which is one thing I had never been accused of."
However, she says she soon learned that wasn't the case.
It came out very quickly to my agent that the director didn't think I was pretty enough," the contortionist and stunt performer continued. "Literally, did not think I was pretty enough. So that meant that a grown up, a man, a boss, could lie about me and tell me I was untalented because the fact was, he didn't think I was pretty."
E! News has reached out to Disney–ABC Domestic Television and Trainer for comment and has not heard back.
And Morgan—who was 12 years old when she was cast in Boy Meets World—recalled having the "weirdest day" of her life ahead of her firing, with her noting that Trainer was becoming frustrated with her acting.
"I was becoming a nervous wreck," she said. "David was just like, 'Get it together!'"
Still, Morgan remained optimistic about her job following the tough day. "I woke up the next morning to celebrate," she recalled. "I made myself blueberry pancakes, because I was so grown up, with a job now—and brought them up to my parents' bedroom to sit and eat them when the phone rang. My dad picked up the phone and he didn't wait to get off the phone. He just said, 'What? You're kidding. They fired you. You're fired.'"
Morgan continued, "I left my pancakes, ran into my room, took a blue blueberry-smelling marker and wrote, 'The worst day of my life' on my hummingbird calendar."
And the experience left her largely unable to watch Boy Meets World, with her admitting she's only seen one episode. "I saw the Barbie Mattel girl, a literal doll, as Topanga and it was like, 'Oh,'" she said. "It was the only time I would ever watch the show because I was not about torturing myself."
While Trainer has yet to comment on Morgan's claims, he previously spoke about feeling like she wasn't working in the role.
"There's sort of problems that you think you can solve," he said on Pod Meets World last year. "And then there's problems that you think you can't solve. And certainly, by working with her, she moved from one camp to the other. To the insoluble camp."
He added that he told colleagues at the time that she was a "disaster" in the role and they needed "to get rid of her."
Fishel, who ultimately went on to play Topanga in the sitcom and its sequel series Girl Meets World, has also reflected on her experience seeing Morgan on set having been cast in a minor role in the episode.
"She seemed to have trouble there. He'd give her a note telling her to change something, and she'd do it the exact same way again," she wrote in her 2014 memoir Normally This Would Be Cause for Concern. "On set the next day, she wasn't there. They had let her go, and the executive producer, Michael Jacobs, needed to find a new girl to play Topanga."
Ultimately, Morgan harbors no hard feelings toward Fishel over the role. "Yes, of course, for a long time, it was like, 'You took it from me,'" she told her on Pod Meets World. "But you were not in the corner, conniving and conspiring."
After Fishel responded in agreement, Morgan added, "The seat was open and you were ushered into it."
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (86514)
Related
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- Jimmy McCain, a son of the late Arizona senator, registers as a Democrat and backs Harris
- Jimmy McCain, a son of the late Arizona senator, registers as a Democrat and backs Harris
- Katy Perry dodges question about Dr. Luke after online backlash amid Kesha claims
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- DirecTV subscribers can get a $20 credit for the Disney/ESPN blackout: How to apply
- Footage of motorcade racing JFK to the hospital after he was shot is set to go to auction
- An appeals court upholds a ruling that an online archive’s book sharing violated copyright law
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Steward CEO says he won’t comply with Senate subpoena on hospital closings
Ranking
- Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
- Miami rises as Florida, Florida State fall and previewing Texas-Michigan in this week's podcast
- Led by Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Indiana Fever clinch first playoff berth since 2016
- A list of mass killings in the United States this year
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- No leggings, no crop tops: North Carolina restaurant's dress code has the internet talking
- Proof Christina Hall and Ex Ant Anstead Are on Better Terms After Custody Battle
- The Daily Money: A Labor Day strike
Recommendation
McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
The internet reacts to Jenn Tran's dramatic finale on 'The Bachelorette': 'This is so evil'
Underwater tunnel to Manhattan leaks after contractor accidentally drills through it
As Columbus, Ohio, welcomes an economic boom, we need to continue to welcome refugees
Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
Joaquin Phoenix on 'complicated' weight loss for 'Joker' sequel: 'I probably shouldn't do this again'
Ultra swimmer abandons attempt to cross Lake Michigan again
A Florida county’s plan to turn a historic ship into the world’s largest artificial reef hits a snag