We're Still Here, Babe
We’re Still Here, Babe, hosted by actress Natanya Ross, is a celebrity interview podcast that goes beyond the highlight reel. Featuring familiar faces from the ‘90s and beyond, each episode explores life after fame through honest conversations about mental health, recovery, resilience, addiction, trauma, personal growth, and the moments that happen when the cameras stop rolling. From iconic actors to unforgettable television and film stars, We’re Still Here, Babe offers a behind-the-curtain look at the human stories that remind us we’re all a lot more alike than we think. Because quitting was never an option.
We're Still Here, Babe
Ep. 4 - Will Friedle & Rider Strong
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This week, Natanya sits down with Rider Strong and Will Friedle, two of the most beloved stars of Boy Meets World, for a conversation that’s equal parts nostalgic, hilarious, and unexpectedly heartfelt. Together, they revisit the years that shaped a generation while opening up about life beyond the cameras, growing up in Hollywood, friendship, mental health, and what it really means to keep evolving long after the credits roll. Whether you grew up with Shawn and Eric or you’re just discovering their stories, this episode is filled with laughter, honesty, behind-the-scenes memories, and the kind of authentic connection that reminds us why these conversations matter.
Hi guys, and welcome to We're Still Here, Babe. I'm so so excited to introduce my next two guests for so many reasons. Um let me just do a couple intros real quick. Our first guest of one of two is somebody some so many of us grew up with, but more importantly, somebody who has managed to stay grounded, creative, funny, like funny as fuck, and genuinely thoughtful through an industry that can really, really shape a person in complicated ways. You know him from Boy Meets World and so many other projects over the years, but today is not necessarily really about the credits, it's about the human experience behind all of it. So, for our first guest on our two guest episode, I'm so excited to introduce Will Fridell. Hi.
SPEAKER_01Hello, how are you?
SPEAKER_00Good, how are you?
SPEAKER_01I'm good, thank you for having me. Honored to be here.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, I'm honored to have you. Well, let's uh let's do the second intro so we can get rid of it.
SPEAKER_01I was told I was the only guest, Natalie, so I um okay. I'll just see you guys in the horse. Kick the other guy off.
SPEAKER_00It's like all I have to do is push a button and he's out of here.
SPEAKER_02I'll let myself out. I can't the hook comes in and just drags me away off screen.
SPEAKER_00I love this guy too much, Will. I'm sorry. I know, I get it. I do too.
SPEAKER_01I do too.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I probably don't even have to do this, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Today's other guest went away on me. Today's other guest is somebody whose work honestly, honestly, really helped define a generation of television and storytelling for so many people growing up in the 90s. But one of the things I've always appreciated most is the depth and honesty he brings into conversations about creativity, identity, growing up, and what happens after that thing the world knows you for. And I'm so, so excited and happy to have our other guest on and introduce Ryder Strong. Welcome to Thank you.
SPEAKER_01We're still here, babe. Yay! Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00We're still fucking here, babe. Look at us. Thank you guys so much. Yeah, this is so special. This is so special. Well, we had a little bit of a conversation before we started about just how much you guys have meant to me on a personal level, professionally. Um, I wanna I want to start out and just tell you guys a quick little story that I've I've been able to tell Danielle, but I haven't been able to tell you guys yet. And I really want to tell you. So when I did my first episode of Pod Meets World, so that would have been your guys' second season, I think. Um yeah, it would have it would have had to be the second season. And when I filmed it, it was months before something crazy was about to happen in my life. And it was so crazy because on our episode that we filmed, there was so much of like the dichotomy between how I felt you know on Boy Meets World and film, and then getting to share that with you guys, and then the episode coming out the week of the divorce. And my best friend Virginia actually forced me to read the comments under one of the first clips you guys had released, and just hearing how many people had said that my story affected them in a way so positively. Yeah, and and so much of like the messages I got from Danielle and Ryder, you wrote me such kind words, and Will, I I don't have your phone number and you have no Instagram or social media.
SPEAKER_01No, I was thinking kind stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I have your email, so I'll I'll start emailing. Okay, all right, good I'll start doing that. But the kindness that you guys showed me uh was something that um really saved me that one.
SPEAKER_01Oh that's really sweet.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so here's my first question, and I ask all my guests this first question where do you guys r remember us meeting for the first time? Because uh my I don't remember meeting you guys when I filmed Boy Meets World. I could not tell you one thing about meeting either one of you on that episode.
SPEAKER_02Really? But that must have been when we met, right?
SPEAKER_00I mean, yeah, but when do you remember like meeting me for the first us like meeting for the first time?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. Yeah, just always known.
SPEAKER_00I know, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I think it must have been that episode, but it was funny because when we ran into you in Albuquerque, I barely because I had never watched the show, I was like, Right was the episode because I knew you through Larissa's show, and I knew you had been on Boy, but I honestly couldn't remember like because I didn't remember any of the episodes of Boy Meets World. So, but then when we No, I had to show you, yes, and then I remember being like, Oh, yes, of course. The yes, there was like an whole episode where we like did a makeover for you or whatever, and the turnaround, the whole thing, yeah, yeah. And so then I remembered it in a vague sense, but then when we did your recap and brought you on, it was like, Oh, yeah, I remember actually filming that episode um because there was a lot of fun parts about it. Um, and yeah, but no, I don't remember like meeting you or hanging out backstage at all.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, we probably said hi at the table read. That was it. Because again, we were in different I was a different storyline than you were in a different storyline. There was, you know, writer Ben Dinger. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00I was a huge there. I remember I saw all of you guys there. I was like, I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go back to Valencia where we film Alex Mac. I was so nervous because you guys were so big at that time. I mean, it was such a a huge thing, you know, and I was so intimidated. And we talked about this on um on pod, but when you go onto another person's show, yeah, totally different thing. Yeah, yeah, totally different thing, yeah, very different. Fucking terrifying, especially when you have to kind of help carry that episode. The episode essentially is about your guest starring. So yeah, a lot of people I think think that even Marty, I don't know Marty from the nineties. I had never met Danielle one time until adulthood, and we somehow formed this incredible friendship the last few years just because you guys asked me to come on your show one time, you know. Like that's and that's kind of the power of the camaraderie of the 90s as well. Is I think we all understand in such a special and significant way that we're instantly like bonded. But um, I did take the time to message Danielle after I did the second episode. I don't know what you guys were thinking with the Munchie Strikes Back. I'll never stand it. It was so good. So good. God bless you all. We still need to move merge. That's okay. Um, and I took the time after that to write her and just say, like, hey, you would have never known this, but I'm going through like the nastiest divorce. I just found out, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And um, and you know, she was she has really been there for me the last two years. So just you know, the power of the friendships that we can make as adults, and and sometimes I'm grateful that with some of you guys I didn't meet you in the 90s, I don't know that we'd still be friends now. Right. I was not the same woman then that I am now, you know. Um, okay, I want to ask you guys so nostalgia versus the reality of the 90s.
SPEAKER_02No, I I yeah, and I think a lot of like, yeah, I think there's so much insecurity. And um, and yeah, like the sense of, I mean, because I think in general, and we talked about this a little bit on PodMeats World, but like in general, there was such a sense of like mainstream normalcy, right? Like what was what was like the normal way to be, or the even the cool way to be, right? Like there was like one model of that. And like when I look at like my son, who's now 11, like he and his friends, like they really don't have a standard. Like they don't think of like there's one way to be in the world. And I feel like back then we kind of did, you know, like we wouldn't have put it that way. But like if we really thought about it, like what we thought was like an attractive guy or an attractive girl, it would kind of be like one of two options, and then everybody else was like a weirdo alternative. You know what I mean? Like, and that's like that's crazy that I, you know, and what's crazy there is that like we were on a TV show. Will and I were probably helping contribute to the culture of like through the team magazines and whatnot, like the culture of like what you're supposed to be like. But meanwhile, we felt we were falling short, right? Well, I won't speak for Will, but I feel like I was falling short constantly, you know. It was like, oh, I'm not, I don't look enough like Andrew Keegan or whoever it is that I was looking up to and saying, like, well, that's Matthew Lawrence. There was always like somebody else who you'd be like, well, they're the better version. And like, I feel like that's gone. I feel like now you can be much more there's so many different ways to be in terms of looks and personality, and and especially for famous people, and I and but all across the board, like for kids, for I just and I think that's so much better.
SPEAKER_01So that's you think that's a lot of that has to do with the fact that it's the the 90s. We were we we talk about this on pod a lot that it was such a monoculture at the time. Yeah. That everyone's watching the same stuff, everyone's listening to the same stuff, everybody's doing the same stuff, and now you've got all the micro worlds are now forming the bigger picture. So everybody's got their own thing, and it's something that maybe none of us have ever heard of. And it's you're watching your own type of shows, you're listening to your own type of music.
SPEAKER_02You have but isn't that kind of a trade-off? Because don't you, I as much as like all the negative things I was just describing, yes, you're totally right, come from monoculture. Don't you kind of miss the molecular? Hugely miss it. Yeah, hugely miss the idea that we all are like talking about the same song.
SPEAKER_00Yes, like right, like we all ran home on Sunday night to watch the same show at 8 p.m. or whatever. Yeah, I think that's even if it was our own shows, totally you know, I think it brought us together.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it made us all feel like we're and I think that's part of the nostalgia for the 90s is that people miss that feeling. They don't even necessarily miss specific things, they just miss the feeling of like, oh, I was a part of something bigger than me. Yeah, correct was bigger.
SPEAKER_00You wrote an incredible article. What was that the LA Times? What was that article? Yeah, it was when we thought that was beautiful. It was right after 90s con, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. It was my first 90s con, and we came home and I was just like, my my my mind was spinning with all these weird feelings and thoughts. And like I still, yeah, like it's a pretty it's a pretty short little opinion piece, but it uh it's played out like a it played into Red Weather a lot, for instance, like the podcast, because I I took a lot of those ideas and and you know found a way to work them into the fiction. And then it's also a lot of those ideas come up in they come up on the podcast, but they come up in the documentary that we made about um Pod Meets World and we can because we went on tour and we have a documentary coming out, it's premiering at Tribeca in June. Two weeks. And so when you watch that, it'll be if you've read that essay, you'll see the documentary kind of ends up being about a lot of those things because the kids are we gonna be able to do that. Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna have a release plan coming up soon. It'll be available. Yeah, yeah. We're preparing a Tribeca and then we'll have a plan after that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Nate, not the kind of guy that feels comfortable to do that kind of stuff, but I had literally just told him like they're the nicest people in the world. I promise. And remember, I texted Ryder, I was like, my boyfriend's Nate, and you were like, Yeah, I remember Nate. I'm like, he's like super nervous for some reason. You were like, That's ridiculous. Please tell him to come say hello to us immediately. So he did, and you guys did, and the whole thing. And I know he had brought me up and and uh mentioned we were dating, and he was like, I could tell that they all were like protective of you, you know. And I think it's because we just very recently heard about what happened to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, we like him a lot though. Yeah, we like we like him. No, we like him a lot. Yeah, he's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. So we're we approve. Like if you if you pod meets world approved.
SPEAKER_00Nate Richard is pod meets world approved. He is, oh yeah. Chloe, Chloe, clip that, clip that. Um, I'm kidding. But if if that if you don't believe that the universe happens, everything happens for exactly the exact right reason at the exact right moment. You know, if I had to go back and do that two years over and over and over and over and over of pain and and suicidal ideation and and depression and generalized anxiety disorder and repeat all of the things that it took me to get through just to find Nate, over and over and over I would do that to meet her again. Because you know, in the moment we don't of course we don't understand why why is the why after 10 years did the universe allow me to be in a situation where I was married and divorced within seven months. You guys get it, you know, and um obviously there's always a reason for everything, and you're right. I mean, it it could he couldn't be a nicer guy. But anyway, so so yes, uh read the article, it was amazing. I'm I we're doing 90s con for the first time this year. I heard it's exciting. Well you're gonna love it. It's a ton of fun. I'm interesting to to message you guys and be like, here's what's floating in my head, because you know, I mean, gosh, also the imposter syndrome that comes along with stuff like that. And you guys have have way less of a reason to have it, you know. But there's so much that goes into all of this, and that's a big part of what this podcast is, is I wanted to really help and people understand that as actors, we don't just like show up and like, hey, we're here and we're just like, no, we're fucking nervous, you know. Like I have diarrhea all morning, TMI. You know, I'm like my anxiety's out of control, like the things going through my head, like, are they gonna think I'm fat? Do they think I'm too old now? Or they think I'm pretty? Do they even care? Should I dress more like the character? Should I just be myself? I mean, as an actor, as an artist, and and also importantly, as a child actor that has somehow made it through to the other side. We're about to see what the other side looks like. Um, you know, it's tough. It's tough. So how how do you guys deal with some of that? Because that's a lot of the mental health stuff that I want to talk about on this podcast, you know.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, I think uh one of the things that's really helped me quite a bit is doing Pod Meets World with Ryder and Danielle. I mean, we get to sit there and we get to I mean, one of the one of the reasons that you know you talked about like, oh, we've accepted you for some reason, which we we we think you're great. So you were not only part of the Boy Meets World family, but being a a child actor in the 90s, it bonds you. Now, some people would say it's yeah shared memories in wonderful ways, other people would might say it's shared trauma, which I think that's a little far. But it there were there were things that were traumatic. I mean that you kind of I mean, we we we've addressed things on our show about you know how there was there was no defined line between age and you know, Danielle at 14 would have full full grown adult men saying things about her that they shouldn't. And there's normalized things that are that that during the 90s were just accepted because it they happened all the time and it's all we knew. Um and I think that when you then look back at that as an adult, uh you kind of see some of the ickiness that took place on the sets. Um and luckily they all that you know, Ryder and Danielle both direct and they direct a lot of kids, and so they uh you can see that that that uh uh keeping the kids safe is is now the the number one thing on the set as opposed to number five. You know, it used to be the show, and then we want to make sure this, and we want to make sure that we're gonna say, oh, and we also want to make sure the kids are safe and and well taken care of. That's now the number one thing on the set, and then everything else is after that. So things have certainly gotten better, but I think going back to your old question about the the nostalgia versus the reality, that that was also one of the the big differences. Um the the other nostalgia versus reality is we were the last acting generation that didn't have to deal with social media, which is just a complete and total game changer from nostalgia to reality. Are we? Yeah, I think right after us come 2000, what, three, four, you started getting things like that. And so that was the start of it, and now it's crazy to where I I couldn't imagine what our lives would have been like. Ryder on teen magazines, me and teen magazines, Danielle doing her stuff. If it was also like, why, hey, why does why does Ryder have a hundred thousand more followers than I do? Why where actors are already more insecure than what have tried to make you hate each other, exactly. It's just yeah, it's and it's also like you can never shut up. But also, that's the problem with social media is that you it never goes away. You know, so they used to say that like when you were bullied in school, when you went home, at least you know you were safe when you were home. Well, now when you're bullied at school, chances are you're being bullied in social media and it's 24-7. So you kids don't get to shut that off. So that was that's also the nostalgia versus the reality for me, because the nest that's where the reality was better than it is now, and it matches the nostalgia because we didn't have to deal with the the quagmire and the craziness that is social media. And it's just having to do that not only uh you know as as an actor, but just as somebody who's 12, 13, you know, with a developing mind, having to read that, you know, uh see that everybody around them has a better life than them when none of that is true. It's just those are the pictures that people want to take and what they want to put out there. None of it is accurate, but you're seeing everyone at the party you didn't get a chance to go to. And oh my god, this was so much fun. And it it must be miserable to be a kid nowadays, it really must. So I think that in that sense, the nostalgia was reality matched for us.
SPEAKER_00I oh, two things I want to comment on that. First of all, um, for all of you that are working with kid actors, directing them, whether you're voice acting with them, uh you know, in-person acting with them, directing them, coaching them, whatever it might be. First of all, thank you guys. Because um, like we I needed you when I was fucking sport. Where were where were you, writer? Sorry. You're young. Will where were you? You know, like first of all, thank you though, because um I I take it very personally when I hear, you know, oh, this person's working with kid actors, this person's managing kid actors. Um, you know, I'm like in my head immediately, I'm like, oh my god, I please dear God, I hope you're talking to them in the correct manner. I'm not gonna say who. I'll tell you guys after. So this actually goes into my next question because um one, Will, you've been so brave and honest and open about talking about your mental health issues and struggles over the years. So thank you for doing that. Thank you for being another creative who's willing to do so. You know I am. I'm doing proud and motherfucking proud about it. I'll talk to whoever I can and whoever will listen to me. And I you know, I work in that industry, and I also suffer greatly with my mental health. You know, I suffer deeply too. So it's you know, I I think when people hear people like you and me say that openly, it becomes a little less embarrassing for other people to say it. Of course. It really is, sure, you know. Um, and and writer, I saw, you know, I saw the art, you saw I reposted it, the article that just came out um in regards to some of your feelings about getting older.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And oh fuck, did that like knock me? Um, you are thrusting yourself back into the spotlight by creating podcasts like this, right? Especially when you put people like us together, it gets attention. So, how did you did you mentally prepare yourself for that beforehand at all? Because I didn't, and I wish I had, because I started getting some of the meanest shit I've ever heard in my life, and I wasn't ready.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, that makes sense, yeah. No, I had I I like I had I literally had the exact process that you're talking about. Like, we I came up with the idea for Pod Meets World. I pitched Will and Danielle on it, we sold it to iHeart, we did our first like four episodes, and then we started to do press, you know, we started to like promote it. And I was sitting there going, like, I was so excited to go through the process of the podcast and to be doing it with Will and Danielle. I was so proud of like this whole thing, and then I was like, oh shit, this means I'm gonna be famous again. Yep, and I was like, right, I wanted I like I it's like you want to have your cake and eat it too, right? Like I want to put something out in the world, I want to connect with people, I want to have um I well, yeah, exactly. What the art without the fame, and and of course, in our position, that is kind of impossible because we are our art is built on the fame, like it is built on the floor.
SPEAKER_00And also, yeah, the with the three of you together, yeah, it's a little more like it's you guys, there's gonna be a lot of eyes on this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but we also none of us none of us expected what happened to happen. I mean, we thought we were gonna do a podcast and do it. No, there was the idea that it was gonna become like a lot of things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, how big it's gotten with Danielle and you guys and all of the things.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think what we all realized exactly like you had said earlier, it's like it actually became like it it's become a platform for the things that we all we all we care about, you know. Like it's because at first it was like it was sort of like you know, for me, I always wanted to run away from Boy Meets World, you know, and it was like I don't want to, I'm already known for this thing. I want to be known for other things, I want to be a little creative in other ways, but then realizing that it all kind of helps, that like just um that you can control the narrative, and this is something that I think is like talk about you know, PTSD from being an actor in general, but certainly a child actor, is the sense that you're not in control of any of your own projects, you know, that like you rise and fall based on whether your movie opened or whether it got distribution or whether your TV show got picked up for a third season or back nine, you know, all these things that had nothing to do with your level of commitment and your talent because as an actor, you just got to show up and do the whole thing all the time. And like what I realized is like, oh no, like we can we own this podcast. This is ours. And we can kind of make it whenever we want to. And to iHeart's credit, they are have been super supportive. They've always let us basically talk about whatever we want, have whatever guests we want, say whatever, and like really steer the ship. And um, and so for us, that meant being probably more honest than other rewatch podcasts, being more vulnerable and and and having tough discussions, and that has worked, you know, in the sense that the bond we forged with our audience, I think is stronger because of it. And so I think for all of us, that's meant, all right, like, well, what else do we want to do? And what else do we want to talk about? And like, you know, creating other podcasts. Um, for Danielle, it's like launched really like kind of a hosting career, which we were all like hosting career, yeah. And like we should have known because you know, she had worked as a host. Oh, I knew it on Dish. See, it's funny because like I think Will and I, Will and I all, you know, of course we love and know Danielle very well, but I don't think we quite realized like how good of an interviewer she was. Yeah, like and like how good she would be, like on like what camera where? Give me the microphone, let me do the the whatever we need to say, I will run this room. Yeah, she's born. So, like watching, like, yeah, when we started doing interviews and we realized, like, oh, she's like a journalist in a way that like Will and I like, you know, we're good at this, we can handle it, but like she's like running this.
SPEAKER_00It means something not it means something different.
SPEAKER_02Yes, it it's yes, yeah, it means and she also, you know, I think like when she when she decided to do dancing with the stars, you know, both Will and I were like, wow, we would rather take a bullet to the head than than do something like that. But you know, it's like if for her it was.
SPEAKER_00Twirled was brilliant though. Twirled brilliant.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well that was our version. That was our version. Yeah, that was our version of it.
SPEAKER_00Brilliant. It's like you guys just never missed a beat. No, it was so fun.
SPEAKER_02No, and but like, yeah, that's the thing, you just build in on what you have, basically, and and recognize that people will follow you if it's authentic and it comes from your, you know, what you want to do.
SPEAKER_00And if you and if you can go into it not really giving a fuck what the results are gonna be, right? Then it's really up to the universe, you know. Totally. Um, I wanted to ask you mentally, what were some of the things going on like inside of your head at 14, 15, 16, 17 years old when the world had kind of already decided who we are as teenagers, humans, whatever you want to call it. Um, but what was really going inside when we were actually all going through puberty on television for the most part? Well, maybe towards the end of puberty, right? I'm not sure how old you were on the show.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, I mean, I started I started Boy, I was 16, but I'd already been on Nickelodeon for five years by that point. So yeah, it was the same. It was it was different for me, though. I mean, again, I just um, you know, Ryder and Danielle talk about how they really struggled with parts of Boy Meets World. And I struggled with my own mental health while doing Boy Meets World, but I'd still be doing Boy Meets World to this day. I I joke that we'd be on season 58 right now, and I would have no problem with that because that's all I ever wanted to be was a sitcom actor. It was my true love. I loved being in front of the audience, I loved working with my the cast and the crew. My best friends were on that set. We I I loved everything about it. So I my my struggle was internal with my own mind and with the just the chemical imbalance that was the anxiety disorder that hit me. Um, I never and I've of course looking back, you struggle on on with as we talked about some of the things that were happening in the 90s uh and the 80s as a child actor. Um that being said, I I loved everything about it. So I I my struggle wasn't with ever being with a child actor, it was just being with my own mind and body.
SPEAKER_00Your own mental health, your own mental health.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and you know, get the f the physical tasks of keeping myself in shape, which I always struggle with my weight and things like that.
SPEAKER_00So it was And they were so hard on you guys in the 90s too. Holy fuck. I mean they were.
SPEAKER_01I've I've been talked to so so from from starting on Don't Just Sit There, I got talked to on Don't Just Sit There, I got Talked to On Boy Meets World, I got talked to on the show I did after Boy Meets World, go fish. I mean, I've been asked about talked about my weight for most on almost every show I've been on. Right. Um, and that's also we that's one of the things that Ryder and I and Danielle talked about on one of the episodes we recently did. And while it it is, it is traumatic, I guess is a word I would use to to have somebody, all these people, the committee determining what your body looks like or how you should look to have this standard. Um, it was also I realized the balance is that I needed to look good for my job. That's part of my job was to look good and to take care of myself. Sure. And there was times I wasn't. Um, and so as much as I didn't like getting talked to about my weight, and some of it wasn't quote unquote my fault, I was medicated for the anxiety and dealing with that, some of it was I was lazy and letting myself go and making bad diet choices and not exercising. And so I, you know, I'm trying to take accountability as well for you know, it's my body and I've got to take care of it. Um that being said, the adults in the room could have done more to help and could have been better at how they decided to address me with doing it. So um, so you know, there's a balance in all, there's a balance in all things when it came to that. But luckily, my I wasn't quote unquote famous and except in small circles until I was like 16. So the 11, 12, 13 of it, which is can be really difficult years. While I was on Nickelodeon, it was like wasn't the same. Being on Nickelodeon in the 80s was not being on ABC in the 90s.
SPEAKER_00It was two very different or Nickelodeon in the 90s.
SPEAKER_01Or Nickelodeon in the 90s, correct. It became I was I was early Nickelodeon where we were we were figuring it out on the Nickelodeon I was on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was I was in the I was Nickelodeon Prime. I mean it couldn't Nickelodeon could not have been bigger at this time.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00Um, and you know, uh now I love it, you know, as an adult, as an almost 45-year-old lady, but you know, in in I've been quoted and dubbed so many times as like the OG alt emo goth girl of Nickelodeon, which I used to, it was so embarrassing back in the day to me when I would go into the wardrobe and I saw I saw my wardrobe and I'm like, oh my god, pigtails again, like, or this out this choker again. Like, please put me in something normal, you know. Give me one of Loris's fucking hats for this episode.
SPEAKER_01Where we didn't have wardrobe when I was on Nickelodeon. It was like, what are you wearing to the set today? And that's what you would wear on literally, it's like that's what you'd wear on the show. Unless you were doing a stunt and you were. Yeah, you were like the cheap old dais of Nickelodeon. Hell yes. It was we were we were the guy would stand over you on the on the ladder with a cigar and a bucket of slime, and he would slam you, and you're on Nickelodeon. And it was the best thing in the world. It was the best. But it wasn't.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Ryder, what what about you going through puberty literally on television, also at a time where it uh will also, but they had dubbed you one of the world's top 10. Yeah, he was the guy, not top five, top three, whatever, you know, heart throbs of our that day.
SPEAKER_02I just wanted to run away. I just wanted to, you know, I just was I I just felt like I wasn't living up to everyone's expectations, and I felt like I was just a letdown, um, you know, like I had really bad acne. Um, and so on the show they would just cover me in makeup, and you couldn't really tell because it was low-def video back in those days. Um, and so whenever I met somebody in person, I was so insecure that I was just this ugly, zit-riddled like version that they didn't, you know, I was letting them down. I I just always felt like I had been sort of marketed as this like fantasy dream boyfriend that I just wasn't and would never be. And so I always felt just horrible um, you know, about my looks and about I don't know. And then also like I was interested in a lot of things that um didn't feel appropriate or right, like, you know, and maybe they weren't, but like, you know, I wanted to like read and be in the woods, like uh not necessarily like dance and like well, yeah, but like like the but the pressure was like, I mean, the we've talked about it in the pocket, but like the worst is like we went on a sale with the stars cruise, you know, and like the idea there was like to raise money for charity. They bring a bunch of teen actors, and there's like Andrew Keegan and Jonathan Taylor Thomas and me and Danielle and people like that. Yeah, exactly. And we go, and like the whole point is like they introduce us and we have to dance. And I'm like, I'm not like I don't I don't go to clubs, I don't dance, I'm not like this isn't the music I listen to. Like Rider's nightmare. But it was my nightmare. And like that is like mixed up. Yes, yes, I'm sure. And that but that was just like that was the time. It was like you were supposed, like basically they wanted you to be Joey Lawrence, you know, which is like and Joey was kind of that guy, like he loves dancing and dressing in clothes and working out his body so his abs are perfect, and like like he's very much that dude, and like that was great for him, but like for somebody like me, it was awful. Like, I was so bad at being a teen idol. So I just wanted to run away. I also didn't really watch sitcoms growing up, so I wanted to be in movies or theater. So the idea that I was stuck on this kid sitcom, you know, and like I look back and I want to like smack myself, of course, but I also was very much a teenager in feeling my feels and being dramatic, emotional, whatever. So that's what I was going through there. But I mean, and not to like totally hijack your question, but I will because I will say I think the harder, I think the harder part for me, and I'll I'll venture to guess for Will, I'll let him, but I think the harder part was our 20s. I think actually, because that was when I I wasn't working, and when I had tried to do other things, like I'd gone to college, I you know, tried to like live the private life, and then kind of wanted the fame back a little bit, or the success, or at least the sense of identity, which I already had, which I had had. So even though like I rejected the boy meets world identity, it was an identity. Like I was I was known, I was a known quantity, I was an actor, and like I could be want to be other things, but at least I felt this sense of like, well, there's this this career, this job, this identity. And when I hit my 20s, I had to hit the reality of like what being an adult actor is like, which is horrible and so much work. Oh my god, and it's a lot more work, and it was harder, and suddenly the phone's not ringing. I'm going on auditions, not getting jobs. If I did get a job, and the you know, the moment like I remember the moment I discovered what anxiety was because I had never really had anxiety, I just always kind of like did my things. I had, you know, but specifically anxiety, and it was I had done a tour uh or I had done the graduate, the play the graduate. Um, and I I had done it, I had almost got it on Broadway to replace Jason Biggs. I ended up not getting the job, but then they called me and they were like, Look, we know you didn't get the Broadway gig, but will you do the first national tour? So I was like, Yes, I'm gonna get back to my theater roots, I'm gonna get on stage and I'm just gonna kill it in this great play. Uh went on tour and the reviews eviscerated us. Oh and while it was happening, while it was happening, I was like, screw it. I'm just I'm I'm acting, I'm having fun, I don't care, I'm on stage, this is me. And then the tour ended. I went back to finish college. I still had a semester and a half left of college, and I remember the night I was like, you know, just in school, I've been turning down acting auditions, and I was like, decided to Google the reviews again. And I was 24 years old, and I Googled the reviews of the graduate that had come out the year before, and I was in school, like feeling a little down. And man, they just ripped my heart out. It was just like, you know, it was like I and I was up all night, just lying there, like not even able to cry because I had so much anxiety. And I was like, oh, this is this is anxiety. And it never went away. So there you go. And that was like, I was, you know, but that was becoming a grown-up, and which I think kind of is the natural process of like in your 20s, you start feeling like maybe I should figure out some things out that I haven't figured out, or maybe I should listen to, you know, and um, but that was an awful feeling, and they and it hit me really hard, I think, particularly because of the adolescence we'd had, which had been good and you know, in in terms of giving us a sense of identity and making us. And I think, you know, Will and I reconnected very much in that period in our mid-twenties, or for me, my mid-20s, and for you, your late 20s, Will. And I remember like we clung to each other, you know, as friends, and it was like, man, like we needed each other in that period, way more than we needed each other as adolescents. I was saying.
SPEAKER_00What was it like being that close and then finding out girl was happening? Already as like coming back together, connected as besties again. I mean, but we weren't really shit.
SPEAKER_01But we weren't because we Ryder and I found out about Girl Meets World on the news. They didn't tell us girl meets world was happening. Yeah, no one told us. No, we were not we were not informed that girl meets world was a thing.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I I I did not know that.
SPEAKER_02I started getting texts from people being like, Congrats, it was a con what? I don't know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01CNN wants a quote about what? Yeah, it was um so no, we No, and I apologize.
SPEAKER_00Don't hold it against me. I did not watch Girl Meets World. I'm so sorry. I watched a couple here and there, but um, so but you guys were on the show.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I did a couple episodes, but the only reason I did a couple of cool and and I had to do them because I our producer at the time told us that we could do anything we wanted on the show, so I said I want to write. And he said, You can't do that. Um so then we finally made a deal that if I acted in three episodes, I could write one. So so I very reluctantly went back on camera for three episodes because I wanted to write an episode. I've been writing at that time, I was writing for a lot of the animated series that I was doing. Um, and so I wanted to write for the show, and uh that was the only way I was allowed to do it. So I did not want to be on Girl Meets World, I didn't want to have anything to do with Girl Meets World. Neither did I have to.
SPEAKER_00But you directed a fake.
SPEAKER_02They came what they did, yeah. Well, I said I wasn't gonna do it. I was there was no way I was gonna do it. And then the executive producer was like, you know, kept howdy me and howdy being. I said, okay, well, let me direct and I'll do it. And I ended up directing a lot. Like I ended up directing like 18 episodes, so it ended up being a great job as a director, but I had no interest in appearing as Sean Hunter again and doing the show again. Um, and uh, but it was a trade-off. Like I did that in order to direct and um Wow, interesting.
SPEAKER_00I'm a little I'm shook by that. I think sorry, and I thought God, I understand that not on that level, but I've been in and wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That is I think you know, it's interesting because I think if it had happened five years later, yeah, we would have been stoked. I think I imagine, like, you know, Will and I would have been like, but it was just at the wrong time for us both, yeah, you know, and the fact that we hadn't been invited into the process, like we hadn't been like you know, any part of the creative or pitching or like just determining that it was just like this thing is happening, are you on or not? And of course, the fans wanted us to be on board, and so of course it felt like something again out of our control, yeah. That was sort of like being told, like, your entire identity is this thing that you've been moving away from for the last 20 years. But guess what? Everybody wants you to do it again, so you better do it. That felt like a hijacking. It was like, what?
SPEAKER_01I can't believe you wouldn't do this when the fans wanted you to do it. And it's like, really? They're gonna come at me like that.
SPEAKER_00Like well, you know what's crazy is we were in such a similar position, and we, Ryder, you and I both share such a sacred and beautiful friendship with Larissa, and you and Larissa are so similar. I'm sure you guys have talked about so much of the same stuff and just the pressure of what it feels like to be. I mean, she's the namesake star of the show, right? So, like most stuff will not happen without her, right? Um, you know, like she finally decided that okay, this is I think it's our third year. It must be. It's it must be something big that she does. But you know, she decided, okay, I'll do 90s con this year. This is a big year. Um, she she understood this was a big year for the pot. And you know, she listened, she and you you get it. She she knows when it's time to like, okay, I I need to help my friend or whatever. And also she cares about our fans. Like that's that leads into the next question I wanted to ask you guys is that Larissa and I have somehow maintained a friendship our whole lives. Now, was there 10 years we didn't talk much because I had a little bit of a drug addiction I had to get over? Sure. You know, but like I'm so lucky to have so many of my same friends from growing up. I I this we joke about this all the time, but Marla is actually like the last person I called when I was 30 driving into rehab the very last last time I went to rehab. So you know, to maintain these friendships is a really special thing, especially on a cast. And and not everybody, I understand that on our cast as well. But there there is a you know, a group the main grouping of people we have somehow managed to be family our whole lives. It's it's not an easy thing to do, it's not common. Um, and it doesn't include everybody, but there is a grouping of people, and it is some of the most sacred relationships I have. I mean, they are the only people Will is the only other person in the world who understands the exact experience you, Ryder, had on Boy Meet as a teen hearthrop. There's nobody else in the world that will understand that other than Will. So I looked it up. Um, just so you know, Ryder, my favorite movie of yours is Cabin Fever. Yeah, just so you know. Um, okay, I look I had to look this up because I had no idea. I did not include Girl Meets World because to me that's a completely separate entity, even though it's under the same umbrella, and I wanted to honor and respect that, right? So for both of you, you both did 158 episodes of Boy Meets World.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00158 episodes? We did like 84, and I was like, I'm the most famous person in the world. 158.
SPEAKER_02I know it's insane. Yeah, it's a lot.
SPEAKER_00But also, you guys gave the world 158 different episodes that anybody at any time can tune into and watch because it is their comfort show. If you ask anybody, go ask 10 people in the world what's your five comfort shows? It's the same shit over and over. Boy Meets World is always in there. Dawson's all the same things. I wonder at times if that's why my episode has held up so much because I came in and I did a one-episode guest star on your show. And it's like it's like all people talk about stuff. It's Ingrid Iverson, Ingrid Iverson. I it's crazy, you know, it's so cool. So you guys gave the world 158 um however many minutes it comes out to 27 whatever minutes of like pure joy. That's their pure joy. Right. So I just wanted you guys to hear those numbers out loud because they're staggering. And that's just point meets world.
SPEAKER_02That's why we can't even remember half the episodes, you know, like when we were doing our recap, we're like, What? We had an episode where Will was sneezing the lottery numbers, like or yeah, even then, it's like, oh, right, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00And my favorite is when fans ask, What's your favorite episode?
SPEAKER_02And I'm like, I don't remember any of that.
SPEAKER_00The one where I jumped on the tree, and they're like, We loved that too, you know, because I feel bad, but I didn't watch the whole show.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So yeah, well, I mean, you have to think about it, it's it's a week of your life 35 years ago.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01So for most people, I mean again, the the the joy of television, especially a sitcom one that's that has any sustainability, which we've been so lucky to have with our fans, yeah, is is that it's a living time machine. Um, it's a time machine for everybody, it's a time machine for uh the fans because they get to go back and have the feeling they did when they were watching it as a kid. It's a time machine for us because not only does it spark memories of actually the episode itself, but then oh my god, so many times we're doing PodMears where it's like, oh my god, this was the week where Ryder and I got into the fight about what and then that sparks a whole new memory.
SPEAKER_00It stalks that memory, yeah. It does.
SPEAKER_01So it is it's an actual time machine. It's a little, it's a little bit of immortality, which is.
SPEAKER_00I'll probably never be able to convince Larissa to do this, but maybe one day, you never know. Nate and I had an idea as well, because I've never seen Sabrina, and I know it's a brilliant show, so not for any other reason, except I was an edgy kid. I was watching Melrose Place and 920 and my soul-called life, you know. Um, and he's never seen Alex Mac. God bless, it's okay. So we thought maybe we'll do a re-watch together and I'll do it. Totally, you know, he'll watch that.
SPEAKER_02Swap each other's shows. Why not?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that kind of like gets into what I wanted to kind of close with is yes, I'm sorry, but wait, before you get into that, you have to, if you do do it, it has to be called We Swap.
SPEAKER_00We swap.
SPEAKER_01We swap. Yeah. We swap. You have to do it with your with your boyfriend, and it's we swap. Like, yes, we're swappers, you know, like swingers? Like swingers, yeah. So you're swapping. Like, oh yes, we swap. And you're swapping shows. No, like show swappers. Show swappers. Show swappers sounds no, that's weird. So much better now. No, it's we swap. No, you want it to be have that little that little note of of like they're they're swapping. Yeah. We swap.
SPEAKER_00There's something that there's something there. Between both, I'm gonna, we'll figure it out. So, anyway, all of the stuff in the 90s, it's incredible, you know. Um, and Will, you have so much incredible joy out there with the voice acting that you do. I mean, you do so much incredible voice acting that people don't, I mean, people don't talk about enough, they don't know about enough. I'm sure you have voiced some characters that people would be like, what the hell? That's Will. There's no way that's crazy, you know? And I think that's so incredible. And I love obviously, I mean, Boy Meets World means a lot to me too. It's it's part of my own legacy too, in a very small way, you know, um, and it's part of what what is the camaraderie between all of us. But it's really this the art and the work that you guys have put out as adults that has really captured my heart. You know, I want to say again, you know, I think there's an assumption that we were all just like, you know, lived in one big house together in the 90s or something. We were we must have all known each other, we must have all been best friends. And although at these parties and the Oakwood and all the things, it was like probably, you know, two, three hundred kids all in different little groups 10 people here, five people here, 20 here, you know. So did we all run into each other in the 90s? Yeah, I'm sure different things. But you know, when we talked at that Albuquerque Comic-Con is when we really bonded and then coming on Podbeats World and like all the things, you know. And um, I think again, it's really a testament. You who said I think it was it was Ryder who said it earlier. If it had been five years earlier, and and I really believe that in life, it's just seconds and inches, and like if I had gone right as opposed to going left, I would have changed the entire trajectory of my life.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_00So I'm really, really, really, really grateful that you guys came on. I'm I'm blown a bit away by some of the stuff you guys are putting out. Like, truly, it's it's inspiring. Thanks. Um, you know, when I first came up with that, I was like, what do I do? Call Ryder or Will? Should I call Jensen? Like, who do I call Danielle's too busy? Like, what do I do? You know, and and Nate was just like, how about you make a little thing and call some of your favorite per people in the world and just push record and let's see what happens. Awesome.
SPEAKER_01We always call Jensen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because Danny, what a what an absolute brilliant man. Um, I wanted to say, okay, if you guys, this is like I have two last really cheesy questions, but I have to, right? Because this is a podcast about mental health. My goal truly with this podcast is I want to help destigmatize it even just a little bit because I don't ever want to feel if I can't get out of bed one day because my depression is so heavy, I don't want to feel weird about that. I don't want to feel weird anymore. I don't want to feel weak anymore. I don't want to feel embarrassed anymore.
unknownGreat.
SPEAKER_00I want to be able to pick up the phone and call any single person in my life and say, hey, look, this is what I'm going through, or I want to be able to text and say, I need a day. Right? I'm going through the thing I go through. You know, and I'm open about it. I'm diagnosed, diagnosed with PTSD, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety, um, panic attacks, uh, panic disorder, you know, uh, it's like what what else? And and um, I think the more we talk about it, especially as god, I fucking hate saying this, celebrity. Oh god, it's like so it's like, what did the kids say? I don't have kids. I was I have a stepkid, but choogy, is that what it is, right?
SPEAKER_01I haven't heard this. But looking at me, I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00It's like the new cringy or whatever. But whatever, like I never le like that's so gross to lead with like uh you know, I I hate that kind of stuff, but as we've been talking about in this last almost a little over an hour, we have made an impact in a certain way in certain decades, you know, from the 90s to now. And I think now it's more important than ever for people to speak up if they can. You know, because I can promise you there's somebody that's gonna listen to this episode in another state or here or whatever, and they're gonna hear Ryder say something, or they're gonna hear Will say something, or even myself. And and what's gonna happen is they're gonna say, Oh my god, me too. I feel that way too. Will Wilfred Elf what Ryder Strong feels that way? And we could change the trajectory of somebody's day. Just by getting open and honest about something that is not that hard to talk about in the first place.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, talking about is one of the top three things that helped me deal with my anxiety.
SPEAKER_00That's exactly right. I know Nate says all the time, he's like, me and Will, we we're gonna really get along. We we got a lot to talk about. Great email. Definitely. I don't know what to tell you. Um, okay, last question, you guys. So um when you hear we're still here, babe, what does that mean to you? You could take the babe out. That's just like a Natanya ism. But like we're we're still here, you know? So when you hear, we're still here, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_02Well, for me, it's like the it's the opposite of it's a like the perfect opposite to where are they now? Right? Like that question, which is like because that's like the that's the that's the like where are they now, or like whatever happened to, and then you fill in the blank for like child star who affected you or that you liked in a movie or in a TV show. And the question, like the answer is they're somewhere, they're actually living their life, so we're still here. Like, this is we don't necessarily go anywhere, it's just like this status game that Hollywood plays of like, you know, what what what is the the life that people expected for you because you had success at a certain age? Like, and that is like incredibly frustrating to me. And I internalized that, as I think we all did, which was like, oh, I'm you know, I'm gonna be on a TV show and then I'm gonna go to a movie, and then it's like, no, like life is so much more complicated. Like your career does not necessarily follow this perfect upward trajectory that happens to 2% of actors, 1% of actors, but especially child actors, it only happens to so many of us or any of us. And so to me, it's like a really positive response of like, we're still here, like in all the senses of like we didn't go anywhere necessarily, like we're just living lives as complicated human beings.
SPEAKER_03I love that.
SPEAKER_01What about you, Will? I agree. Uh, I if you ever want to feel better about yourself, go to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and walk the Walk of Fame and read the names, and you don't recognize 90% of them. Right. 90% of the names, you're like, who I don't know who these people are, but at the time they were important and and loved and and respected, and they did something in the industry that was made a mark. And so, you know, eventually we're we all we all end up where we started, you know. And and you just hope you just hope the ride is worth it as you're there, and you hope you meet best friends along the way and lovers along the way, and wives, and husbands, and boyfriends, and girlfriends, and uh, you know, it's it's it's about the ride for Christ's sake. I mean, that's that's why we're here. So the rest of it'll work itself out.
SPEAKER_00I love it so much. What what a perfect way to explain that. Well, you guys, thank you so much for coming on. We're still here, babe. I adore you so much, and uh yeah, here we go.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for having us. Good luck with the show. Good luck with the show. Yes, thank you.
SPEAKER_00I love you guys, thank you so much.