Boy Meets World 's Danielle Fishel Recalls Nearly Being Fired at 12 Age During First Day on Set

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Danielle Fishel's journey on Boy Meets World didn't get off to a great start.

The actress, 41, has been reflecting on her time on the series on the new Boy Meets World rewatch podcast, Pod Meets World. Speaking with co-hosts Rider Strong and Will Friedle on a recent episode featuring series director David Trainer, Fishel — who played Topanga Lawrence — recalled her rough first day on set.

Fishel initially had a smaller role in the series but wound up replacing the original actress chosen to play Topanga. But the then-12-year-old had a habit of speaking quickly. This ultimately proved to be a problem for series creator Michael Jacobs, and Fishel claims he threatened to fire her from the ABC series.

"Michael starts off the notes by saying, 'Danielle, I'm going to give you your notes all at one time, at the end and I'm going to give everyone else their notes now, because if I made everyone sit here through all of the notes I had for you, we would all be here for hours and no one would ever get to go home. So you're just going to wait for the end,'" she recalled Jacobs saying. "From that moment on, my eyes welled up because, you know, I'm now in front of everybody — all the producers, all the writers, all the cast and all eyes are on me for a second. And then he just quickly moved on."

Jacobs then proceeded to deliver his notes to everyone else before calling down Fishel's mother from the studio audience to join her at a table on set. "He went through every single one of my lines and what he wanted and what I wasn't doing right and how slow I needed to talk," she said.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

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Friedle, 45, pointed out how the moment seemingly "still affects" her today, leading Fishel to disclose how she's "sweating profusely" while retelling the story.

"What I know specifically was said is, 'All I know is, if you don't come back tomorrow doing this entirely differently, you are also not going to be here,' referencing the girl I had replaced," she added.

Since Fishel was very focused on making Jacobs happy, she and her mother stayed up until the wee hours of the morning "going over every single line."

Fishel's hard work paid off. After participating in rehearsal the next day, she recalled Jacobs standing up to say, "Let's give Danielle a round of applause, you did exactly what I asked of you. Thank you, thank you. Congratulations, it was wonderful."

Fishel starred in all seven seasons of Boy Meets World from 1993 and 2000. Years later, she reprised the role in its spin-off series, Girl Meets World.

RELATED: Danielle Fishel Says She and Ben Savage Went on One Date to See If There Were 'Feelings There'

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Earlier this year, Fishel opened up about how she once resented the series but eventually learned to be grateful to be involved at all.

"The last several years, I feel like were tainted by my own feeling of wanting it to be over. And now, I would do anything to go back and have those moments back," she told Romper in April. "Any time in my life, both personally and professionally where I have felt like I'm starting to take something for granted, I remind myself, 'You did this with the end of Boy Meets World. Don't do it now, because one day you're going to look back and you're going to wish you had those moments back.' I think it's such an important lesson for teenagers and for me, even now as an adult."

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New episodes of Pod Meets World arrive weekly everywhere podcasts are streamed.