Will Friedle Just Detailed Witnessing Inappropriate Behavior On The "GMW" Set

[TMC]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...213947292.html

Will, Danielle, and Rider said they didn't realize how bad the behind-the-scenes behavior was until they returned for Girl Meets World in 2014, where Danielle was a series regular and directed episodes, while Will and Rider appeared as guest stars and wrote and directed episodes, respectively.

In a new interview with Variety, the trio talked about their podcast and dove deeper into the behavior they witnessed behind the scenes of Girl Meets World, in particular the "troubling power dynamics at play within the show" and how it made them look at their own experiences on Boy Meets World from a new perspective.

Girl Meets World notably marked Danielle's first sitcom since Boy Meets World ended, and she said she immediately realized how inappropriate some of the behavior on set was.

"There’s a lot to be said for taking some normal workplace environment rules to Hollywood. Maybe, if this would never fly in any other professional environment, maybe some of those professional rules should apply on our sets. Maybe the things that would happen in your accountant’s office where someone would then call HR and it would come to an end, maybe we should participate in those things here," Danielle said.

She continued, telling Variety, "I think I was one of the people on that set who oftentimes would say, 'Hi, what are we doing here? This is weird. And I know it’s normal for what we do, but I don’t think it should be normal and I think we should stop this from happening.'"

In a recent episode of Pod Meets World, Danielle, Will, and Rider talked about boundaries being crossed on set, and Will noted that he'd seen it happen on Girl Meets World.

Will said, "I got to come in and occasionally look at the entire thing that was happening. You saw a lot of those traits, where it was, you’d walk in and somebody 13 or 14 would be sitting on somebody's lap who's 35. There’s nothing overtly sexual about it, but it's still inappropriate."

He continued, saying, "It’s completely on the adults. It’s not on the 13-year-old girl to say, 'Wow, I shouldn’t run up and jump on somebody’s lap because that’s inappropriate.' It’s on the man to go, 'No, no, no — I like you a lot but why don’t you sit over there and we’ll have a conversation. It’s just not appropriate.' You don’t see that nearly as much as you should. It was very strange."

While working on Girl Meets World, the trio said they began to realize how inappropriate the behavior they experienced on Boy Meets World was. On the podcast, they've talked about regularly being around conversations from grown adults where they talked about "how hot the guest stars are" and how the women's "skirts weren't short enough."

While the trio have nothing but wonderful things to say about Rowan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Peyton Meyer, who lead the series, they explained that their experiences on Girl Meets World were "hindered by the fact it was the cast and crew returning from Boy Meets World."

Now, as the adults on set, they saw everything differently. "I was like, 'Oh, this is what's really happening here,'" Rider added. "It was hard and horrible to go through. But ultimately, very healthy and healing to experience."

"Certain people counted on us not talking to each other. When it was revealed that we were talking to each other, the curtain was pulled away," Will said. "When we started comparing notes, it wasn’t great. So, I'm very glad that I had very limited involvement with Girl."

All three of them agreed that if Girl Meets World didn't happen, they might still be "ranting and raving in only the most positive ways" about Boy Meets World.

Danielle elaborated, saying, "Your memories start coming back to you about when this happened and when that happened. You start to see it differently. Even being able to do that, that takes a certain amount of growing up and self-reflection to even recognize it happening. And I don’t think everybody recognized it happening."

Another thing that happened with Girl Meets World was Danielle realized the power dynamics that were at play from the very beginning. In particular, she didn't know that the entirety of the original cast wasn't told about the spinoff.

Danielle said she was initially told that Girl Meets World would only include small tie-ins and cameos from the original cast, with the new cast really leading the series. However, that turned out to not be the case, and Danielle and Ben ended up being series regulars.

"Honestly, the kids suffered for that," Danielle said. "It should have been their show, its own thing with little moments here and there of tie-ins — and that’s what I was told it was going to be. I was under the impression from the very beginning. I was also told that you guys [Will and Rider] were all in on it."

Ultimately, Will, Danielle, and Rider say they are grateful for their time on both Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World because it allowed the trio to remain close, with Rider saying, "Boy Meets World is an overwhelmingly positive experience in all of our lives."

[JO Sweet Heart]

What Will (Eric) has to say about the adults is true. They are supposed to set the right examples, because if they don't, there is always the chance that the kids may not just emulate whatever is placed in front of them. Instead, they may try to go further and become guilty of even worse activity.

God bless you and Will and the other cast members always!!!

Holly