Rider Strong Recalls Why He Had a ‘Breakdown’ During Boy Meets World Rehearsal: ‘I Just Lost It’

Rider Strong is reflecting on an emotional series of Boy Meets World episodes.

In the Thursday, June 19, episode of Pod Meets World, Strong, 45, told former costars Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle about why he had a “breakdown” during a rehearsal for the season 6 episode “Getting Hitched” in 1999.

In the episode, Strong’s character, Shawn Hunter, ignores calls from his half-brother Jack (Matthew Lawrence), who is asking him for help to clean out their late father Chet’s (Blake Clark) trailer.

Chet died in the previous episode of a heart attack. And though Shawn’s relationship with his father was complicated, the loss the character experienced was immense, especially after initially believing Chet was the one paying for his college tuition.

“Shawn’s emotional story is that his dad is never there for him,” said Strong, reflecting on their dynamic. “But if his dad was actually paying for his college in Shawn’s story — I believe that the denial is possible. But his dad was taking care of him then, in Shawn’s mind.”

Despite Shawn finding out Jack’s well-off parents were the ones actually paying for his tuition — which would have been an opportunity for him to leave the trailer park — he initially stayed.

“The fact that they played the scene out and Shawn didn’t leave and stayed there and had the conversation, I thought was just such a better way to go about it than Shawn just leaving again,” said Friedle, 48, who played Eric Matthews on the show.

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But Shawn does eventually leave. And as Strong recalled of the time he rehearsed the scene, “This is where I had my breakdown,” as he “was really bored by my character.”

“What’s funny is, in retrospect, this is actually a well-written episode for Shawn … he’s finally expressing something,” Strong continued. “But I remember during rehearsal, I just lost it. I was like, ‘I feel like I’m saying the same thing every week.’ ”

He added, “It’s interesting because now that I look at it, I’m like, ‘Actually, my character is finally expressing himself. This is good.’ But I don’t know. Maybe I was just tired of being on the show.”

“I was like, ‘Why [do] they keep throwing drama at me?’ ” Strong continued. “Now looking at it, this is on the heels of an episode where they killed my father and really put a lot of pressure on us as actors — pressure on Blake and Matt and me.”

Strong previously chatted with PEOPLE in 2021 about the impact the series, which ran for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000, had on him, over 20 years later.

“Boy Meets World is one of those shows that said, ‘No, no, no, this is an important time of your life,’ ” said the actor, who later reprised his role as Shawn in the spinoff Girl Meets World (2014-2017).

“That boyfriend or girlfriend, or the friendships or the teacher you have could change you forever and help define who you are. I think that’s a really beautiful message,” Strong added.