Cast members from Boy Meets World are opening up about the reality of being child actors.
Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle, who played Topanga, Shawn, and Eric respectively on the show, have opened up on their podcast, Pod Meets World, about some of the most uncomfortable and "creepy" aspects of starring on the hit show.
“The script said, ‘and they kiss… a good kiss,’” Will began. “And I said to [his co-star, Kerri], ‘What does that mean?’ And without missing a beat, she said, ‘Tongue.’ I will never forget that.”
The stars then discussed how frequently they were given kissing scenes on the show.
“I started asking, ‘How would you like to do this?’ because it’s creepy," Will explained, adding that he tried to discuss it with his co-stars so "it wasn’t like, ‘Hi, nice to see you, now I have to jump on you and throw my tongue down your throat,’ it’s really creepy."
“It was hugely uncomfortable," he went on. "Everyone talks like, ‘Oh man, you get to kiss all those girls!’ But it’s not as awesome as you might think it is.”
“We should at least address, especially in this day and age it needs to be talked about, the kind of power disparity that’s going on,” Will added. “Because we’re regulars on the show so we have a job and we know we’re going to have a job, and it puts the [guest] actor in a position of saying: ‘I’m not gonna say I don’t want you to put your tongue down my throat.’”
“We were actors, it didn’t matter whether or not we were uncomfortable or comfortable with it. Whatever the writer wrote is what you did, and you were made to feel that if something did make you uncomfortable, it was inappropriate for you to express that," Danielle said.
h/t: Buzzfeed
