Ben Savage has "ghosted" his 'Boy Meets World' co-stars.
The 42-year-old actor - who portrayed the show's lead Cory Matthews - has left Will Friedle, Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong baffled after he abeuptly "disappeared" from their lives without explanation, and it's now been three years since they heard from their former friend.
The cast previously reunited at fan conventions, and the trio asked Ben to join them on their watchalong podcast 'Pod Meets World', only for him to decline.
Danielle told Variety: “He was very adamant that it was not for him. He was also very clear, ‘I don’t want it to stop you. If you guys want to do it, go ahead.’ The time between those conversations and the time we actually started the podcast was a significant amount of time.”
The podcast launched last June, but Ben suddenly stopped joining his former co-stars for fan events some time before then.
Danielle said: “He just kind of disappeared from our lives."
Will is paticularly shocked that his repeated attempts to reach out have gone unanswered.
He said: “He disappeared — I wish I knew why, to this day. We didn’t have a fight. There’s no falling out. There was no animosity. He just woke up one day, and decided I don’t want this person in my life anymore.
“I finally sent a text saying, ‘I’ve known you for 30 years, what’s going on?' I said, ‘I’m gonna call you every day until you tell me not to call you anymore.’ That lasted about three weeks or a month, every single day.
“I’ve known him since he was 11 years old, and we have a shared history. And we were doing these conventions together, and we were getting to know each other as adults, and then he just kind of went, 'I’m done with you.'
“I tried and tried and tried for months, until finally my wife was like, ‘Why are you doing this to yourself? He obviously doesn’t want you in his life.'”
Danielle told how Ben was there for her when she and husband Jensen Camp welcomed their son into the world a month early in June 2019 and he checked in regularly when the tot was in NICU, but then she heard nothing else.
She noted: “He ghosted us."
But the actress wishes nothing but the best for her former friend.
She said: “If there’s anything this podcast has taught me, it’s that everyone is on their own journey and having their own experiences that can be perceived many different ways, depending on your [point of view].
“Speaking for myself, Ben and I may be estranged right now and we may have our complaints about each other, but I will always love Ben and want what’s best for him. I don’t think this is the end of our story — but time will tell.”
Read the full interview at: https://variety.com/2023/tv/features/boy-meets-world-cast-podcast-ben-savage-michael-jacobs-1235654153/