After seven seasons of sharing the screen with Ben Savage as his fictional love interest, brother, and best friend, respectively, Boy Meets World stars Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Rider Strong have lost touch with their former costar.
In a new interview, the trio told Variety that they haven't spoken to Savage in three years because he "just kind of disappeared from our lives."
The trio said that they would often reunite with Savage at fan conventions after working on three seasons of the Disney Channel reboot Girl Meets World. During that period, they started discussing plans for a Boy Meets World rewatch podcast, which Fishel says Savage wasn't interested in joining.
"He was very adamant that it was not for him," she explained. "He was also very clear, 'I don't want it to stop you. If you guys want to do it, go ahead.' The time between those conversations and the time we actually started the podcast was a significant amount of time."
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They launched the podcast, Pod Meets World, in 2022, but lost contact with Savage long before that. While Fishel said she was particularly close with Savage after the birth of her first son in 2019, their relationship soon changed. "He ghosted us," Fishel said.
After years of playing his onscreen older brother, Savage's absence in their lives is a particularly "sore subject" for Will Friedle. The actor said he has made various attempts to get in touch with Savage to no avail.
"He disappeared — I wish I knew why, to this day," Friedle said. "We didn't have a fight. There's no falling out. There was no animosity. He just woke up one day and decided I don't want this person in my life anymore."
Friedle said that he eventually sent him a text: "'I've known you for 30 years, what's going on? I'm gonna call you every day until you tell me not to call you anymore.'"
Friedle said he called for "about three weeks or a month, every single day."
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"I've known him since he was 11 years old, and we have a shared history," Friedle added. "We were getting to know each other as adults, and then he just kind of went, 'I'm done with you.' I tried and tried and tried for months, until finally my wife was like, 'Why are you doing this to yourself? He obviously doesn't want you in his life.'"
Fishel remains hopeful that her relationship with Savage will be mended in time.
"Speaking for myself, Ben and I may be estranged right now and we may have our complaints about each other, but I will always love Ben and want what's best for him," she said. "I don't think this is the end of our story — but time will tell."
Last year, Savage pivoted away from acting and towards politics after announcing his candidacy for Congress. The actor-turned-politician is currently running as a Democrat in California's 30th Congressional District.
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