Rider Strong is opening up about a moment on the Boy Meets World set that left him emotional.
In the Thursday, June 19 episode of Pod Meets World, Strong, 45, recalled having a “breakdown” during the rehearsal of the 1999 season 6 episode “Getting Hitched,” in which his character Shawn Hunter deals with the aftermath of his father Chet’s death. Chet, played by Blake Clark, passed away from a heart attack in the previous episode, and the weight of Shawn’s loss was immense, especially after discovering that Chet hadn’t been the one funding his college tuition as he initially thought.
“Shawn’s emotional story is that his dad is never there for him… But if his dad was actually paying for his college, in Shawn’s story — I believe that the denial is possible,” Strong explained, reflecting on the scene. The plot twist reveals that Shawn’s half-brother Jack (Matthew Lawrence) and his well-off parents had been the ones supporting Shawn’s education, a realization that shakes the character deeply.
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As Strong rehearsed the scene, he said, “This is where I had my breakdown.” He admitted that he felt disconnected from his character, saying, “I just lost it. I was like, ‘I feel like I’m saying the same thing every week.’” At the time, Strong wasn’t fully appreciating the depth of the storyline, but looking back, he sees how important the scene was for Shawn’s character development.
Strong shared that the pressure of filming such heavy scenes—particularly after Chet’s death—may have contributed to his emotional exhaustion. He added, “Maybe I was just tired of being on the show.”
Boy Meets World, a popular coming-of-age sitcom, aired on ABC from 1993 to 2000.
