Danielle Fishel: Boy Meets World Star Spotted!

 was every guy's dream girlfriend when she starred as Topanga Lawrence on the hit TV series Boy Meets World in the 1990s.

The 44-year-old actress was only 12 years old when she was cast on the show in 1993.

During her seven years on the show, Fishel won a strong fan base for playing the girlfriend of Ben Savage's character as she landed magazine covers and hit glitzy red carpet events.

In her twenties, she revved up her career by doing a sexy shoot for Maxim magazine, and starring in the films Dorm Daze and The Chosen One.

The blonde has not been seen as often at events because she is directing projects these days and working on her podcast, but was spied in Beverly Hills earlier this month at the Gracie Awards.

Fishel has gone on to direct episodes of Disney Channel's Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, Raven's Home and Coop & Cami Ask the World, and ABC's Shifting Gears. 

Earlier this month she told UsWeekly how there was so much pressure to be thin when she was on Boy Meets World. 

'I was aware, even if nobody said it to me directly… that as far as the people in power were concerned, my body was a problem,' said Fishel, who is in a more .

'I remember around the time of [1998's] prom episode being aware that they didn't want me wearing something sleeveless. 

'Every time I have a conversation with somebody, it is a weird, comforting feeling to know there isn't something wrong with me,' Fishel said on Pod Meets World, the rewatch podcast she created with co-stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong in 2022. 'That all of us who grew up around that same time [had] that same experience.'

Fishel said it was emotionally daunting especially for a girl who had put on weight.

She admitted she felt 'no longer attractive' because of her weight gain, which was noticeable enough for the producers to create a storyline around it.

'I just so did not want to be there; I was uncomfortable on set every day,' Fishel shared. 'There was this feeling that I was no longer attractive, because I had gained weight. I just wanted to be anywhere other than on set. I was probably a curmudgeon.'

Producers put a spotlight on Fishel's weight gain in a season seven episode titled She's Having My Baby Back Ribs.

In the episode, Topanga and Eric – played by Will Friedle – go on a diet after feeling self-conscious about their weight gain, and Cory – played by Ben Savage – mistakes her dieting and weight gain for pregnancy, resulting in a comedic turn of events.

Looking back on that time, Fishel said her feelings of self-doubt made those episodes 'hard to watch.'

'I feel some cognitive dissonance because I'm aware that what my eyes are seeing doesn't match up with the way I feel watching,' she said.

'It just doesn’t feel good,' she said.

'The season seven episodes are tainted with the feeling of incredible insecurity and fear of being on camera.

'It was hard for me to shake and probably why I didn't really want to go forward with a career on camera.'

When asked what she would do if she could travel back in time and face those executives, Fishel answered, 'I wouldn’t say or do [anything] differently other than be more accepting and loving of myself.'

Fishel explained it's taken 'a lifetime' to get to a healthier frame of mind. 'And even still, the bad habits and the bad thoughts can creep up and I have to rein it back in,' she added.

Competing on Dancing With The Stars in fall of 2025 alongside Pasha Pashkov was a personal milestone for Fishel. It followed a challenging year of breast cancer treatment.

Fishel, who has two sons with producer husband Jensen Karp, has since named new projects in the works, including a new podcast called Teen Beat that launched in January.