Famous “Boy Meets World” actress Danielle Fishel claimed an executive on the show made her feel sexualized and objectified when she was a young teen, People reported.
Fishel explained she received a lot of male attention, “but in a romantic, male-gaze sense, I should not have been outwardly talked about at 14, 15, 16 years old.” She described the “creepy” encounters, and said she knows now that she should not have become an “object of desire at such a young age,” according to People.
“I had a male executive — I did a calendar [shoot] at 16 — and he specifically told me he had a certain calendar month in his bedroom,” she said, according to People.
Boy Meets World’s Danielle Fishel Felt Like an ‘Object’ to ‘Creepy’ Executive with Her Photos in His Bedroom https://t.co/z4DuHgLYa0
— People (@people) June 20, 2023
Fishel went on to describe what it was like to come to the realization that she was being sexualized while underage.
“I had people tell me they had my 18th birthday on their calendar,” she said, according to People.
At the time, she wasn’t aware of how inappropriate the situation was. Fishel said her “immediate thought after that was: ‘Yes, because we are peers, and this is how you relate to peers.’”
“As a kid, I always wanted to be older. I always wanted to be an adult. I wanted to be seen as an adult,” she said.
“So getting adult male attention as a teenage girl felt like — I didn’t think of it as being creepy or weird,” she told People.
“I felt like it was validation that I was mature and I was an adult and I was capable and that they were seeing me the way I was, not for the number on a page. And in hindsight, that is absolutely wrong,” she noted.
Danielle Fishel: ‘Creepy’ male ‘Boy Meets World’ exec kept calendar pic of me at 16 https://t.co/66GX2ptbWG pic.twitter.com/d8ROmy4l2J
— Page Six (@PageSix) June 20, 2023
Fishel said she reflected on those situations in her older years and realized she was being objectified. The famous actress admitted the way she was treated by those men has seeped into her relationships later in life. (RELATED: ‘Such A Dehumanizing Moment’: Famous Actress Alleges A Director Demanded To See Her Underwear)
“I didn’t really process how it affected me as a teenager — or how it affected me in my 20s or even in my 30s — up until the last few years,” she said.
“And then I was really able to look back on it and connect the dots,” she said, according to People.