Ben Savage
Erik Pendzich/Shutterstockboy meets the world alums Danielle Fish, strong rider And Will Friedle are closer than ever – but they can’t say the same about their relationship with the former costar Ben Savage.
“He disappeared – I would like to know why, to this day,” Friedle, 46, said. Variety in an interview published on Wednesday, June 28. “We didn’t argue. There is no fall. There was no animosity. He just woke up one day and decided, “I don’t want that person in my life anymore.”
Friedle – who played Eric Matthews, the older brother of Savage’s Cory Matthews, on the beloved sitcom – shared that he “finally texted saying, ‘I’ve known you 30 years, what’s going on? -he? I will call you every day until you tell me not to call you again.’ However, Friedle dropped out after “a month” of no response.
“I have known him since he was 11 and we have a common history. And we were doing these conventions together, and we were getting to know each other as adults, and then he just said, ‘I’m done with you,'” he added, noting that their estrangement is a ” painful subject. discuss. “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.'”
Savage, Friedle, Strong, 43, and Fishel, 42, all starred in the ABC hit from 1993 to 2000, instantly becoming global teen icons. The popular Friday night staple ran for seven seasons and followed Cory and his friends from college through their college years. While Friedle was Cory’s goofy older brother, Strong and Fishel portrayed Cory’s childhood best friend and longtime girlfriend, respectively. The revival series of the sitcom, A girl meets the worldpremiered on Disney in 2014 – with all four main characters making appearances throughout the show’s three seasons.
For years, the band held fan conventions together — until Savage called it quits without notice. “He just sort of disappeared from our lives,” Fishel said. Variety Wednesday, adding that Savage was there for her when her first son was born early and in NICU in June 2019. (Fishel shares two sons, Adler, 4, and Keaton, 2, with her husband Jensen Karp.)
“We were so, so close, especially at that time. He contacted me regularly,” she recalls. While Fishel claimed that Savage “ghosted” us after this time, she revealed that she remains hopeful that they will all reconnect in the future.
“If there’s anything this podcast has taught me, it’s that everyone is on their own journey and has their own experiences that can be seen in different ways, depending on your perspective,” he said. she explains. “As for me, Ben and I may be apart right now and we can complain about each other, but I will always love Ben and want the best for him. I don’t think this is the end of our story, but time will tell.
As for their podcast, “Pod Meets World” — a review show where actors watch the sitcom for the first time and recap the series from their own perspective — Savage rejected the idea early on.
“He was very adamant that it wasn’t for him,” Fishel explained. “He was also very clear, ‘I don’t want this to stop you. If you want to do this, go ahead. The time between those conversations and when we actually started the podcast was a significant amount of time. .
Wandering down memory lane may not have been the right move for Savage, but Fishel, Strong and Friedle have achieved great success from the podcast, including seeing over 17 million downloads and selling popular merchandise. The trio also did two live shows and had a slew of BMW guest stars, including Betsy Randle, Trina McGee, Matthew Laurent, Adam Scott and Mr. Feeny himself William Daniels.