Bonnie Morgan said she was fired after one day and was replaced by Danielle Fishel
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Danielle Fishel as Topanga in 'Boy Meets World' and Bonnie Morgan.The Ring star Bonnie Morgan almost starred as Topanga Lawrence on Boy Meets World, but she claims she lost the role because director David Trainer did not think she was "pretty enough."
During the latest episode of iHeart Radio's Pod Meets World, Morgan told former Boy Meets World stars Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle how she was 12 years old at the time when the role seemed written just for her. "Even the name was out of my parents' love history," Morgan, who also works as a contortionist, recalled. "It was the coolest thing ever."
The role came "easy" to Morgan and she thought she had the part. Morgan "didn't know" she could be fired until she was, she said. Still, when she came to the set for the first day of filming, she felt as if something was amiss.
"It was the weirdest day of my life. Even as a kid I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’ I came in and all the adults were very short with me," she recalled.
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Things were going well during the table read until attention turned to Morgan, she said. Ben Savage, who played Cory Matthews, was reportedly egging her on, which led to Trainer growing frustrated. Morgan became a "nervous wreck" as she tried to keep it together for Trainer, but Savage continued trying to get her to laugh.
According to Morgan, Trainer did not like the way she delivered a line of dialogue. She was supposed to say, "Peace," but the director kept telling her to say it "sweeter." He got "really close" to her and told her to try to say it "like you're saying 'Happy birthday.' " Morgan said it the way Trainer wanted, but things remained awkward, she recalled, and was told to take her wardrobe home at the end of the day.
When Morgan went home, she thought she still had the job. The next day, which was a Saturday, her parents were told the news over the phone.
"They fired you," Morgan remembered her father telling her. Her agent later explained that Trainer thought she couldn't take directions.
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Danielle Fishel, Ben Savage, Will Fridle, and Rider Strong in 'Boy Meets World.'"The director said that I couldn’t take direction, which was one thing I’d never been accused of," Morgan recalled. "My agent immediately fought back on that one. It came out very quickly to my agent that the director didn’t think I was pretty enough. Literally did not think I was pretty enough, so that meant that a grown man, a boss, could lie and tell me I was untalented because the fact was he didn’t think I was pretty."
Fishel, Strong, and Friedle were seemingly shocked at Morgan's claims.
This was the first time Morgan shared the story publicly, she told the podcast hosts. She kept it a "dirty little industry" secret for a few reasons, with the first being that she did not want to disrespect Fishel, 42. While Morgan admitted to being frustrated when Boy Meets World aired, she said the role could not have gone to a "nicer person."
Fishel was almost fired on her first day, as well.
During a Pod Meets World episode last year, Fishel said she was originally cast in a small role before she won the role of Topanga. When she was 12, she spoke quickly, which creator Michael Jacobs reportedly did not like. He almost fired her because of the habit, Fishel recalled. She and her mother stayed up into the early morning hours to go over lines so she could please Jacobs on the set.
In another Pod Meets World episode earlier this month, Fishel recalled a "creepy" interaction with a show executive she did not name. "I had people tell me they had my 18th birthday on their calendar," Fishel recalled. “I had a male executive — I did a calendar [shoot] at 16 — and he specifically told me he had a certain calendar month in his bedroom.”
Boy Meets World aired on ABC from 1993 to 2000. Fishel also reprised her role in the Disney Channel spinoff Girl Meets World, which ran from 2014 to 2017. Both shows are streaming on Disney+.
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