1 month ago
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“It was never just a few bad apples. It's always been an entire system of disgusting men supporting each other.”
People have been left horrified after Danielle Fishel opened up about her concerning experience with a male showrunner when she met with him to pitch a kids’ TV show.
While Danielle is now 44 years old, she shot to fame as a child star after landing the standout role of Topanga in the ‘90s sitcom Boy Meets World when she was just 12 years old.
Over the years, Danielle has been incredibly open about the inappropriate treatment she faced as a result of growing up in the public eye, and the uncomfortable fixation that some people have had on her body.
And during a recent appearance on the Off the Vine podcast, Danielle recalled the seriously shocking response that she got from a showrunner — who she didn’t name — after she voiced her discomfort at remarks he made about her during a professional meeting.
Speaking to host Kaitlyn Bristowe, Danielle began: “There was one time I went into a meeting with a showrunner that I greatly respected, and I knew of his work. I thought he was extremely talented. He had done a bunch of stuff, and I had a show idea I wanted to pitch for him, and I went in, and he was like: ‘Yes, come in, I'm so excited to talk to you about this idea.’”
Danielle explained that the showrunner then brought up the sexy cover she had done for Maxim magazine back in 2013. She said: “He brought up my Maxim cover and talked about certain parts of my body, and then I was like: ‘OK,’ and I said: ‘I don’t want to talk about that, I would feel more comfortable talking about the thing I’m here to talk about.’”
“And he went right back to parts of my body and, like, in his mind, in a very positive way,” Danielle continued. “In a positive way, about certain parts of my body, and I just felt very shut down. Like, no matter what I say… I’ve already said: ‘I don't want to talk about this,’ it's still going to happen. And then, I left that meeting, and I had to send him an email about it.”
“I said: ‘Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me, I know how busy you are, really respect you, I do, though, have to tell you that made me very uncomfortable,’” she recalled. “And he wrote me back and told me that he had no idea how I'd made it this far in the industry if I had such thin skin, and that I was entirely wrong for feeling any way about it.”
“I remember thinking at the time: ‘This is going to do one of two things for me. It's either going to make me never speak up for myself again because it will just get me shut down, or it's going to show me that even if you don't get the response you want, being happy and proud of yourself for being able to express yourself in those situations is going to be worthwhile,’” Danielle concluded. “And that was the choice I ended up making.”
You can watch the clip below — let me know your thoughts in the comments!
@offthevinepodcast
@daniellefishel told us about a pitch meeting where a showrunner she admired completely dismissed her idea… and then started commenting on her Maxim cover and her body instead. 😳 The way she stood up for herself — and how he responded — left us SPEECHLESS. Full episode out now on YouTube, Apple & Spotify. @Kaitlyn Bristowe @Disney Channel
♬ original sound - Off The VineOff The Vine / Via tiktok.com
English (US)