Current:Home > FinanceBoy Meets World's Original Topanga Actress Alleges She Was Fired for Not Being "Pretty Enough" -EverVision Finance
Boy Meets World's Original Topanga Actress Alleges She Was Fired for Not Being "Pretty Enough"
View
Date:2025-04-14 12:10:01
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! (257)
Related
- DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
- What brought Stewart-Haas Racing to end of the line, 10 years after NASCAR championship?
- Travis Kelce Shares Honest Reaction to Getting Booed While at NBA Playoffs Game
- Teen Mom's Mackenzie McKee Engaged to Khesanio Hall
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Riley Keough, Lily Gladstone on gut-wrenching 'Under the Bridge' finale, 'terrifying' bullying
- Medical pot user who lost job after drug test takes case over unemployment to Vermont Supreme Court
- DNC plans to nominate Biden and Harris virtually before convention
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Get 82% Off Khloé Kardashian's Good American, 30% Off Parachute, 70% Off Disney & Today's Best Deals
Ranking
- The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
- Mummy's arm came off when museum mishandled body, Mexican government says
- Dwyane Wade to debut as Team USA men's basketball analyst for NBC at 2024 Paris Olympics
- Pat Sajak celebrates 'Wheel of Fortune' contestant's mistake: 'We get to keep the money!'
- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
- 'Moana 2' trailer: Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson set sail in Disney sequel
- What are leaking underground storage tanks and how are they being cleaned up?
- 'Yellowstone' stars Hassie Harrison and Ryan Bingham tie the knot during cowboy-themed wedding
Recommendation
Average rate on 30
Elon Musk offers Tesla investors factory tours to bolster $56B pay package votes
Iran has even more uranium a quick step from weapons-grade, U.N. says
Ryan Reynolds Details How Anxiety Helps Him as a Dad to His and Blake Lively’s Kids
Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
The Daily Money: Hate speech on Facebook?
Wisconsin launches $100 million fund to help start-up companies, entrepreneurs
Massachusetts fugitive dubbed the ‘bad breath rapist’ captured in California after 16 years at large