For a drama series all about friendship and love, it seems that message didn’t extend off-screen to all of the Boy Meets World cast members. In an episode of the rewatch podcast, Pod Meets World, Will Friedle, who portrayed Eric Matthews, addressed his estrangement from his on-screen brother Ben Savage.
Who was your favorite character on ‘Boy Meets World’?
“Ben is one of the most important people I’ve ever met in my life, and I can’t stand the fact that he won’t speak to us,” Friedle explained. “And that’s what it is: He won’t speak to us.”
Ben, who portrayed series regular and star Cory Matthews, has seemingly “ghosted” Friedle and his fellow podcast hosts and co-stars Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong. Friedle went on to explain their former friend’s absence.
“I can show you the last three years, literally, of messages and in the middle of a conversation with Ben, he just bailed on me,” Friedle continued. “Ben absolutely one day woke up and said, ‘I don’t want Will in my life,’ and never told me why.”
Ben Savage wasn’t interested in joining the podcast
Fishel, who starred as Cory’s girlfriend, Topanga Lawrence, shared that she and Savage had been rather close after she welcomed her first son in 2019, but their connection didn’t last. The trio asked Savage to host the rewatch podcast with them, but the actor wasn’t interested.
“He was very adamant that it was not for him,” Fishel 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… He ghosted us.”
While Fishel and Savage starred as boyfriend and girlfriend on Boy Meets World, they reunited as husband and wife on the Disney spinoff, Girl Meets World, which aired from 2014-2017.
Ben Savage’s estrangement: what his ‘Boy Meets World’ co-stars are saying
Friedle has spoken about the co-stars’ estrangement before, sharing that he has no idea why Savage doesn’t speak to him.
“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 took matters into his own hands, trying to contact Savage until he responded. He recalls sending a text that read, “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 that he called his friend every day for nearly three weeks before giving up.
“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.”
Why Ben Savage won’t speak to Will Friedle and his former co-stars
As of publication, Ben Savage has not publicly commented on the ongoing estrangement from his former Boy Meets World co-stars.
Savage’s silence extends beyond just personal communication with his former castmates. He has not participated in fan conventions or addressed the situation in media interviews. His focus seems to have shifted to other pursuits, including a political career, having run for Congress in 2024.
As the situation continues, Savage’s lack of public comment leaves many questions unanswered about the nature and reasons for the estrangement.