‘You Had An Attitude.’ Porn Star Maitland Ward Gets Heated With Boy Meets World Co-Star Danielle Fishel Over Years-Old Drama

For years drama has brewed between Boy Meets World stars Danielle Fishel and Maitland Ward, with the latter accusing Fishel of rude on-set behavior and saying the Topanga actress didn’t want her on set at Girl Meets World. The feud came to a head on Fishel’s podcast — which she co-hosts with fellow BMW alumni Rider Strong and Will Friedle — and accusations flew between the actresses during a long and heated argument.

Maitland Ward joined the cast of Boy Meets World (available to stream with a Disney+ subscription) in Season 6 and has remained close to some members of the cast. She’s even said Will Friedle was “so supportive” of her career transition into porn. As for Danielle Fishel, there was no love lost, and after an enlightening discussion of Ward’s adult film career on a recent episode of Pod Meets World, the actresses finally aired their grievances, with Fishel kicking off the tense discussion by asking point-blank:

Danielle Fishel said she’s read the things Maitland Ward has said about her and their podcast over the years, and Ward turned it around to recall how Fishel was apparently cold to her on set of the spinoff Girl Meets World, which aired from 2014 to 2017:

• Ward: No, I don’t hate you. I think that you hate me because you wouldn't speak to me on Girl Meets World, and that was hurtful.
• Fishel: I wouldn’t speak to you? I did talk to you.
• Ward: No. No, not really.

Maitland Ward said she felt slighted that Danielle Fishel had unfriended her on Facebook after attending her wedding in 2006, and she ignored a Facebook message she’d sent Fishel congratulating her on her own wedding and the spinoff. Ward continued:

Rider Strong and Will Friedle came to Danielle Fishel’s defense when Maitland Ward recalled the guys hugging her and being happy to see her when she visited GMW, pointing out that they had time to talk to Ward because they weren’t working like Fishel had been. The exchange continued:

• Fishel: Yes, I was working. I was definitely working.
• Ward: No, you had an attitude about it, though, because I know you. There was some beef between us, and I didn’t get it. And maybe I picked up the wrong signals, but definitely there was some sort of weirdness there.
• Fishel: And so what did you think it was?
• Ward: I didn’t know at all. I didn’t know if you thought I was trying to come onto the set and take over, not take over but, like, try to steal attention or something. But I didn’t know. I really was very genuinely confused why we wouldn’t be good.
• Fishel: I don’t feel as though I was not good with you, but I definitely didn’t have a relationship with you, like, ‘Oh my gosh, my long-lost friend Maitland!’ I was working.

Danielle Fishel went on to say Girl Meets World was “a very, very difficult set,” and not at all like they’d experienced on Boy Meets World. She called it “tumultuous,” and got validation from her former co-stars when she said she felt ostracized and criticized. She said she was sorry if that came across as something personal. However, Maitland Ward wasn’t quick to accept the apology, saying:

Danielle Fishel had another bone to pick with the adult film star regarding her comments to the media about their podcast:

• Fishel: It seems like almost anytime the podcast is in the news, in the press, there’s a quickly followed up TMZ interview with you.
• Ware: Oh yeah, everybody’s interested. Yeah, they always want to know.
• Fishel: How do those happen, by the way?
• Ware: Because they come and get me. They find me on the streets.
• Fishel: Oh my gosh. I don’t know if I’ve ever been found on the street.
• Ware: Are you trying to accuse me of using you? Are you trying to accuse me of something?
• Fishel: No, I’m just wondering, because they’ve never stopped me outside of my house.
• Ware: They’re not stopping me outside of my house.
• Fishel: OK. I don’t know where they’re stopping you. I was just wondering, because it hasn’t happened.
• Ware: It’s an awfully big concern for you right now.

The charged conversation continued with Danielle Fishel basically saying she’d tried to have this conversation in private but that Maitland Ward wanted to do it on the podcast for ratings, or as Ward allegedly put it, to “rock the stats.” Ward countered that she thought Fishel’s wishes to reach out to her privately were disingenuous.

I don’t think it can be said that the two necessarily found common ground, but they did seem to at least hear each other out and were eventually able to get back on track to talk about Boy Meets World.

We’ll have to see if this discussion can serve as the end of the actresses’ beef with each other, or if this heated conversation was just another footnote in the Boy Meets World drama.