The strange thing about child stardom is that nobody really leaves it behind. The paychecks stop, the sets disappear, the network logos fade into nostalgia — but the grudges stay alive like cigarette smoke trapped in old wallpaper.
Maitland Ward knows that better than most.
The former “Boy Meets World” actress, who shocked plenty of former Disney-era viewers when she pivoted into adult films years later, says she still feels “betrayed” by her old co-stars following a tense and very public fallout on the “Pod Meets World” podcast earlier this year.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Ward admitted there’s been no contact between herself and former castmates Danielle Fishel, Ryder Strong and Will Friedle since the awkward February 2025 interview that turned into something closer to group therapy with microphones.
“We have not spoken at all,” Ward said. “There’s been no contact. We’re in a place where we are not connected right now, and it’s sad.”
Ward, who first made her name on “The Bold and the Beautiful” before becoming Rachel McQuire on the beloved ‘90s sitcom, said she still believes she was blindsided during the podcast exchange.
“I still feel betrayed by the situation,” she explained. “I do think I was set up for reasons that only they can explain. I was taken very much off guard.”
The tension traces back to lingering issues from “Girl Meets World,” the Disney reboot that reunited parts of the original cast years later. During the now-infamous podcast appearance, Ward accused Fishel of freezing her out during production.
“You had an attitude about it,” Ward said at the time. “There was some beef between us, and I didn’t get it.”
Fishel pushed back, admitting the reboot series wasn’t exactly the warm nostalgia trip fans imagined behind the scenes.
“The memories we have of the fun set of ‘Boy Meets World’ were not the memories of the fun set of ‘Girl Meets World,’” she said.
The actress went on to describe the environment as “tumultuous,” adding that she often felt isolated while working on the Disney revival alongside Ben Savage, Sabrina Carpenter, and Rowan Blanchard.
What followed was the kind of uncomfortable back-and-forth usually reserved for ex-lovers arguing outside a bar at closing time. Ward accused the podcast hosts of manufacturing drama for ratings. Fishel accused Ward of doing exactly the same thing for publicity.
Neither side really blinked.
After the interview aired, Ward claimed she felt “bullied” by the experience, describing it as “three against one” given that Fishel’s husband also produces the podcast.
“I really felt surrounded,” Ward said. “It felt like a very toxic situation.”
Still, despite the fallout, Ward insists there’s no hatred on her side. She even publicly supported Fishel during her run on “Dancing With the Stars” last year, calling the gesture genuine.
“I have nothing but love for her and for the experience that we had together on the show,” Ward explained.
That mix of resentment, nostalgia and forced affection feels strangely familiar to anyone who grew up around television fame. These sitcom casts spend years pretending to be family for America, then spend the next twenty years trying to untangle what parts of it became real.
Ward may now work in an entirely different industry, but the old Hollywood politics clearly followed her there.
Somewhere beneath the headlines, the podcast drama and the adult-film career pivot, this still sounds like four former co-stars trying and failing to figure out whether they were ever actually friends in the first place.
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Last modified: June 1, 2026
