Original Boy Meets World Topanga actress says she lost role because she wasn't 'pretty enough'
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Bonnie Morgan claims that she lost the role of Topanga Lawrence on Boy Meets World because director David Trainer thought she wasn't "pretty enough."
The actress and contortionist, who was 12 years old at the time, told Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle on the latest episode of the Pod Meets World podcast that she already had a host of credits under her belt before auditioning for the character, which she felt had been written personally for her. She went on to note that her audition process for the part was an unusual experience because it went on for an extended period of time.
"I got a call from my agent that said, 'There's a power struggle and Bonnie's stuck in the middle of it. The creator loves her.' And every time someone [spoke about the role] it was like, 'It's like it was written for you.'" she said. "So finally, it came down, you got it: Michael [Jacobs, the show's co-creator] won. I didn't know that you could get fired."
Morgan explained that the role — which had several connections to her own life, including her parents being married in Topanga Canyon — came "easy" to her but that things soon took a turn during her first day on set.
"It was the weirdest day of my life. Even as a kid I was like, 'What's going on here?'" she recalled. "I came in and all the adults were very short with me."
Things seemed to get back on track during the table read, but Morgan said that "the minute I was separated out, it was another story." She claimed that Ben Savage, who starred as the show's lead character, Cory Matthews, began teasing her and trying to get her to break character, which frustrated Trainer.
"At this point, I was becoming a nervous wreck," she said. "I couldn't get his name — the opening line, 'Cory, I would like a — Cory' — and David was just like, 'Get it together.' And I'm trying to pull it together, and hold it together in sheer fear, and Ben just kept doing this thing to crack me up."
Morgan recalled another instance in which Trainer asked her to repeat a line of dialogue in a "sweeter" fashion than she had previously. At one point, she said he got "really close" and told her to say it "like you're saying 'Happy birthday.'" While she was eventually able to say it "sweetly" enough for Trainer, she noted that she was both "amazed and knew not what to say" about the interaction.
When she returned home that Friday, Morgan said she "knew nothing" about potentially losing the role and remained hopeful that she could do a better job the following Monday. However, the next day her parents were notified over the phone that she had been let go.
"'They fired you,'" she recalled her father telling her after the call. Her agent later revealed that the director said Morgan "couldn't take direction," which she said her agent "immediately fought back" on.
"It came out very quickly to my agent that the director didn't think I was pretty enough," she said. "Literally did not think I was pretty enough, so that meant that a grown-up, a man, a boss could lie and tell me I was untalented because the fact was he didn't think I was pretty."
A representative for Trainer did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
Morgan continued, "Live with that: 'I'm taking away the thing you want most in the world that was all but written for you. It's because you're not talented. Sorry, I lied, it's just because you're not pretty.'"
She added that she was "shattered" and refused to watch the show, especially once she learned that Fishel had auditioned for the role after she had left the set that day. "I was dead before I ever walked on that set," she said. "I truly believe David Trainer decided the minute the phone call was made that he was going to get rid of that kid come hell or high water. And what a hell of a thing to do to somebody."
She also noted that she "never once" shared the story publicly before the podcast interview, choosing instead to keep it a "dirty little industry secret."
"I haven't said it for a lot of reasons… I didn't want to disrespect you, Danielle, really," Morgan said. "You were on that show for a long time. You are an icon of that day, and who am I to take anything away from you?"
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