Maitland Ward shares how Ben Savage has supported her two decades after they wrapped Boy Meets World.
Ward, 47, recently detailed her friendship with Savage, 44, and her transition from acting to adult entertainment in her new memoir My Escape from Hollywood: Unapologetic, Unfiltered, Unashamed.
Ward joined the ABC sitcom in 1998 as Rachel McGuire, the roommate of Jack Hunter (Matthew Lawrence) and Eric Matthews (Will Friedle). Savage starred as the series lead, Cory Matthews, from the September 1993 premiere to its May 2000 finale.
In an interview E! News published on Wednesday, Sept. 25, Ward explained that although Savage has pursued a political career since the series, he “was definitely somebody who was supportive” of her career change. Savage ran for Congress in 2023 and for a seat on the West Hollywood City Council in 2022.
“I think it was cool,” Ward told the outlet. “He’s in politics and he stood by the fact that I’m in porn. Some people shy away from that and feel that sense of taboo. It surprised me.”
“I really loved his family and his parents,” Ward added. “I definitely supported his campaign and everything. He has a lovely wife, and he’s funny.” Savage married wife Tessa Angermeier in February 2023.
Ward also remarked that her friendship with Savage is more similar to old “high school or college friends,” noting that they have a “really nice” bond.
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Ward was “nervous” to join Boy Meets World, but the cast was “very welcoming” and “very nice,” she said.
After Ward’s first night, “Ben and the others hazed” her when she went to greet the studio audience after taping, she said. Alongside Savage, Ward, Lawrence and Friedle, the series starred Danielle Fishel, Rider Strong, Trina McGee, Betsy Randle, William Russ and William Daniels.
“They told me that I would have to go out there and sing a song by myself,” she told E! News, adding, “I don’t remember what the song was but he had it all memorized.”
“Ben was fully involved in this,” she recalled. “And they were all, ‘Every time a new person comes on the show, they have to go out there and do this for the studio audience.’ And I was like, ‘Oh,’ and then finally they let me off the hook.”
But once in the swing of things, she saw Savage “like a little brother on that show.”
“He thought that I was like this leggy sex goddess that was out prowling the night and I fed into that, like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is what I did,’ ” she said. “I loved to play around with him but he definitely was a naughty little brother.”
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All seven seasons of Boy Meets World are available to stream on Disney+. My Escape from Hollywood: Unapologetic, Unfiltered, and Unashamed is now available.
