Maitland Ward Slams ‘Betrayal’ from Will Friedle and ‘Boy Me…

Maitland Ward isn’t finished speaking out about her feud with her Boy Meets World costars.

Following her heated conversation on Feb. 24 episode of the Pod Meets World podcast, Ward spoke with The New York Post about where she stands with her former costars after the confrontation.

“I do think it was orchestrated,” Ward said of the argument between herself and Danielle Fishel. Costars Rider Strong and Will Friedle were also part of the discussion.

Near the episode’s end, Fishel, 43, asked about their more recent history, noting that there was contention between the two of them on the set of the spinoff series Girl Meets World, as well as in the press since Pod Meets World launched in 2022. 

“Do you hate us?” Fishel asked, teeing off the conversation, which Ward, 48, says was “really hurtful,” speculating Fishel was “triggered” by her.

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Ward noted that her closest friendship on the cast was with Friedel, who assured her the environment for her conversation on the podcast would be lighthearted.

“Will had presented the show to me before like it was going to be so much fun,” she told the outlet, later explaining, “He has always been a friend to me. I had been closer to him than I was with the other cast members.”

Ward joined the series as Rachel McGuire in 1998, at the beginning of season 6. She stayed with the series until it ended with season 7. According to her, Friedle was her “connection” to the cast.

“If he knew this was gonna happen like this and didn’t give me any warning about it, that really sucks. That really, it’s just a betrayal that way from him,” she leveled, noting she’d be skeptical about continuing their friendship if that was the case.

“I can’t trust that he would ever watch out for me in a situation or have my back,” she said, noting that a warning could have made a big difference in the direction of the conversation.

“I was not going to start anything big with her. We were just going to have conversations,” she shared.

“I thought as we got into the show, it was weird that she wasn’t bringing anything up even in conversation, like, ‘Hey, let’s talk about this. We might have had some bad times in the in the past, what were your feelings? And what were my feelings? And we can both apologize and talk it out.’ ”

Of Fishel’s decision to raise the conversation near the episode’s conclusion, Ward said, “I think she wanted to catch me off guard. She wanted to try to rattle me and and she did. I didn’t expect it.”