“Boy Meets World” star Danielle Fishel and former teen heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas were on top of the world in the 1990s. So it’s no surprise the two became an item off camera.
Fishel — who played Topanga Lawrence on the long-running ABC series — opened up about her “first boyfriend” during an appearance on the “Throwbacks With Matt Leinart & Jerry Ferrara” podcast on Friday, October 23.
Teen Romance
Fishel was just 12 years old when she landed the iconic role, the same year she began dating JTT.
“My very first boyfriend ever, when I was 12, was Jonathan Taylor Thomas,” Fishel said. “He was on ‘Home Improvement’ on the stage right next door to me, which as everybody knows who’s had a job and had been in school, it’s like those are the two places you’re meeting people.”
For his part, Jonathan landed the role of Randy Taylor — the middle son on the ABC sitcom “Home Improvement” — in 1991. He would stay in that role until 1998.
“So we were right next door to each other. We used to have PE together every single day,” Fishel continued. “He was and still is so cute, so sweet, had a little raspy voice, just everything every girl at that time loved.”
Jonathan largely stepped out of the public eye after walking away from “Home Improvement.” He would later appear as a guest star on “8 Simple Rules” in 2004, and in “Smallville” and “Veronica Mars.” He would later reunite with his TV parents, Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson, during an appearance on “Last Man Standing.”
“I never took the fame too seriously,” Thomas told People in 2013. “It was a great period in my life, but it doesn’t define me. When I think back on the time, I look at it with a wink. I focus on the good moments I had, not that I was on a lot of magazine covers.”
Danielle and Lance Bass
Another iconic relationship for Danielle was with NSync star Lance Bass. The two dated as teens at the height of the band’s fame, and he even accompanied her to her high school prom in 1999.
“Well, I mean, I never got to go to my prom. So I was so excited to be able to go to her prom, because it felt like my prom, although I was like a year older,” Bass told People in April. “But it was exciting because we were teenagers! I mean, we wanted to feel like we were normal teenagers, and this was that moment we actually got to feel like we were just these normal teenagers, at least during parts of it.”
The pair didn’t last long romantically, as Bass later came out as gay. But their friendship has stood the test of time, and they even recreated their iconic prom photo, including the exact same dresses.
“We recreated our 1999 Prom pic, hoverhand and all (and yes, that’s the ACTUAL dress!) I still don’t know why we didn’t work out!!” Danielle teased.
Comments
Danielle Fishel Spills on Dating ‘First Boyfriend Ever’ Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Teens