‘Boy Meets World’ Actor William Daniels Says He Was Abused as a Child: ‘I Had No Idea’
“I had been robbed of a normal childhood,” he writes in new memoir of boyhood spent on stage
Beatrice Verhoeven | March 7, 2017 @ 2:08 PM
Last Updated: March 7, 2017 @ 2:11 PM
From the cover of Daniels' autobiography, "There I Go Again: How I Came to Be Mr. Feeny, John Adams, Dr. Craig, KITT, and Many Others"
“Boy Meets World” actor William Daniels has published a new memoir in which he shares that he was abused as a child actor — something he only realized years later.
In his book, “There I Go Again: How I Came to Be Mr. Feeny, John Adams, Dr. Craig, KITT & Many Others,” he discussed how his mother dragged him to auditions at a very young age and forced him to dance, sing and perform on stage. Sometimes, he would work crazy morning hours and on weekends, while children received very little pay.
Daniels, now 89, was a child performer during the Great Depression in the 1920s and ’30s.
“Many decades later, when I started writing this book, I started seeing a psychologist, Dr. Estelle Shane, who suggested that I was an abused child. I was shocked to hear such a description — that I had been robbed of a normal childhood, forced to perform and put into situations that I had no control over,” reads an excerpt from Daniels’ book (via People). “It was unhealthy, my doctor said, that I was unable to express my anger, my fears and my dread of knowing what was expected of me in the future.”
He continued: “Also hurtful was my mother’s failure to say ‘good job’ or ‘well done,’ compliments surely all children need to hear. Mother believed, rather firmly, that children get ‘swelled heads’ if they had too much praise. It has taken me a long time to agree with this diagnosis. It is true that my sisters and I were the tool’s of my mother’s ambitions — her ambitions not just for her children, but for herself.”
Daniels, who also spoke with People, said he was initially in denial about the abuse.
“I had no idea that — I didn’t feel like, ‘Oh my God, I’m being abused’ or anything like that,” he said, explaining that he told his therapist years later, “‘No, my mother wouldn’t.’ And she said, ‘Yes you were [abused]. You were forced onto the stage.’ They didn’t realize the pressure of performance that my sister and I went through. So they sat out in back or stood out back with the other parents. … It was during the Depression when kids became very popular performers because they didn’t have to pay them. So that’s what we did — many, many of those. Two or three a week sometimes. And I don’t know how we did it and got any sleep, because it was in the evening and we’d get home at 1 o’clock in the morning. But we did it and we didn’t feel like we were being abused. It didn’t occur to us until this analyst said to me, ‘No, you were being abused.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, yeah.’ I’m sure Irene — that’s my mother — didn’t feel that way.”
In his book, he also describes his doctor’s conclusion: “Dr. Shane said that it wasn’t depression. She said, ‘I think you’re in mourning for your lost childhood.’ My level of anxiety while reading these pages — some of which literally brought me to tears — finally convinced me of my psychologist’s analysis: I was indeed an abused child. Why did my mother have to drag us around, throwing back carpets in her friends’ apartments, demanding that we dance like trained monkeys?… And why was I such a wimp and couldn’t say no? In my defense, I was just a child. But still.”
Both of Daniels’ parents have passed away: His mother died almost three decades ago, while his dad passed on Sept. 11, 2001.
Daniels starred as Mr. Feeny in both “Boy Meets World” and “Girl Meets World,” as well as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Rebels,” “The Graduate,” “Blind Date,” “The Benchwarmers” and “Blades of Glory.”
His book was released on March 1.
22 Times 'Girl Meets World' Has Paralleled 'Boy Meets World' So Far (Photos)
Sloppy Joes or chicken pot pie? Farkle's (Corey Fogelmanis) dilemma over whether to choose Riley (Rowan Blanchard) or Maya (Sabrina Carpenter) becomes a lunchtime analogy in the pilot episode: Sloppy Joe or chicken pot pie? Turns out, these kids aren't the first to try to use food to try to solve a romantic dilemma. Shawn (Rider Strong) in "Boy Meets World" likened being torn between a Stacy and a Linda to trying to choose between meatloaf or chicken.
Disney Channel
Opening credits For Season 3 of "Girl Meets World," the cast recreated, nearly shot for shot, the "Boy Meets World" opening credits that were introduced in Season 5.
The most important high-five ever In an episode that explicitly flashed back to the "Boy Meets World" moment in question, Maya and Farkle high-fived -- and felt nothing, a direct contrast to when young Cory and Topanga high-fived and felt everything.
Childhood gifts A meaningful gift from Cory's father was never brought up again after one episode in Season 1 of "Boy Meets World" -- until Season 3 of "Girl Meets World," when Cory finds them again, in an episode featuring Riley losing something from childhood that was important to her.
Time capsules In an episode featuring "Boy Meets World" characters digging up what their younger selves buried decades ago, the "Girl Meets World" youngsters keep the tradition going by burying their own mementos.
Disney Channel
Do good One of the most iconic lines from "Boy Meets World" is Mr. Feeny telling the kids to "do good," as opposed to do well. "Don't you mean do well?" Topanga asks Feeny, just as a new student named Marly asks Cory on "Girl Meets World," when he uses the same Feeny-ism in his own classroom.
Disney Channel
Friends at war Eric's return to the "Boy Meets World" universe on "Girl Meets World" is a direct call back to the original series' episode "Seven the Hard Way," where he insists he should be called Mr. Squirrels. Not only does his prophetic vision of his own future come true, the episode also features the younger characters in a major fight, with Cory warning them of what could happen if they don't make up.
Disney Channel
Going too far "Girl Meets True Maya" takes Maya back to her rough upbringing roots and dares her to cross the line back into being a "bad kid," something Shawn went through multiple times on "Boy Meets World," particularly in the episode "Wrong Side of the Tracks."
A push in the right direction When Riley became too scared to go on a date with Lucas, Maya asked him out, in order to give her best friend a little push of confidence. Shawn did the same for Cory back on "Boy Meets World," by asking out Topanga.
Disney Channel
The Adams family While Cory, Shawn and the gang went to John Adams High School on "Boy Meets World," Riley and Maya and "Girl Meets World" friends went to John Quincy Adams Middle School, a nice nod to being the offspring of the original, and then Abigail Adams High School, for the gender-flip nature of the spinoff series.
Parental intervention On "Boy Meets World," Cory tried to get Shawn's dad Chet to care more about his son, and on "Girl Meets World," Riley tries to do the same for Maya. Turns out, in both cases, the kids probably should have cut their hard-working parents some slack.
Disney Channel
Mount Sun Lodge The ski lodge had such a significant role on "Boy Meets World" -- Cory kissed another girl and almost ended things with Topanga for good -- that "Girl Meets World" staged a full blown reenactment, on-site. This time, it's Riley who stays up all night talking, which ends up shaking up the show's central love triangle.
Conversation In an episode titled "Girl Meets Boy," Riley has her first serious talk with crush Lucas (Peyton Meyer), in a direct call back to the episode "Boy Meets Girl" of the original series, where her parents Cory and Topanga also connected for the first time as youngsters.
Disney Channel
Time travel While "Boy Meets World" did an episode set in the '50s, where Cory "time-traveled" back in time after an electric shock, meeting alternate versions of his friends, "Girl Meets World" took a slightly different approach, having the young actors play their characters' grandparents in the '60s.
Disney Channel
Jelly beans Cory, with Shawn's help, used jelly beans on a scale to try to decide between Topanga and Lauren. Twenty-years later, Lucas, aided by Farkle and Zay, employed the exact same method when trying to decide between Riley and Maya.
Disney Channel
Popularity When Riley gets invited to a party without her "cool" best friend Maya in "Girl Meets Popular," it's a direct callback to the "Boy Meets World" episode "The Uninvited," when her dad was invited to a party without Shawn. "It's a geek party!" turns out to be the surprise in both cases, but father and daughter took different lessons from the experience.
Disney Channel
Kings Riley and Maya entered high school in the exact same fashion as Cory and Shawn did, and with the exact same confidence. Unfortunately, that deflated just as fast as Cory and Shawn's did too.
Disney Channel
First kiss Topanga kissed Cory in the "Boy Meets World" episode "Cory's Alternative Friends," leaving him shell-shocked. In the "Girl Meets World" episode "Girl Meets the Truth," Farkle plants one on Riley (specifically, on her chin), leaving her in an equally gobsmacked state. The show writers would later confirm the similarities between the two scenes were "quite intentional."
Disney Channel
Car wash If Al washes a car in six minutes and Fred washes the same car in eight minutes, how long does it take them to wash a car together? Apparently this is a killer math problem, because the gang on "Boy Meets World" had a hell of a time with it, and the "Girl Meets World" friends take quite a detour to avoid answering the exact same question, 20 years later.
Disney Channe
Overachievers Farkle himself is a major callback to "Boy Meets World," as it was eventually revealed that he is actually the son of Cory and Topanga's childhood classmate Stuart Minkus. The first hint of Farkle's parentage came in the Season 1 episode "Girl Meets Father," when he earned his 700th A grade -- one more than his father, and the same number as Topanga, which she used to beat the original Minkus to becoming Valedictorian.
Disney Channel
The Couples Game A game testing couples' compatibility caused quite the drama on "Boy Meets World," but the "Girl Meets World" gang didn't heed Cory's warnings to stay away from playing such games -- and got an equal dose of questions nobody wants to answer.
Disney Channel
Mr. Feeny, wedding officiate Feeny returning to "Girl Meets World" to officiate Shawn's wedding to Maya's mother isn't just a poignant reunion, it's also a call back to "Boy Meets World," when a surreal sequence saw Feeny almost officiate a Shawn and Topanga wedding during World War II.
Disney Channel
1 of 22
History repeats itself, at least on this Disney Channel spinoff series
Sloppy Joes or chicken pot pie? Farkle's (Corey Fogelmanis) dilemma over whether to choose Riley (Rowan Blanchard) or Maya (Sabrina Carpenter) becomes a lunchtime analogy in the pilot episode: Sloppy Joe or chicken pot pie? Turns out, these kids aren't the first to try to use food to try to solve a romantic dilemma. Shawn (Rider Strong) in "Boy Meets World" likened being torn between a Stacy and a Linda to trying to choose between meatloaf or chicken.