Trending badgeTrendingPosted 1 hour ago"I Was Literally Dying": "Boy Meets World" Star Will Friedle Just Spoke Candidly About His Mental Health Struggles During Season 7 Of The Show, And It's Seriously Emotional"The best acting I've ever done in my life is not letting people know that I was literally dying."by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink Boy Meets World star Will Friedle has spoken candidly about his debilitating mental health struggles during the final season of the show that catapulted him to global fame in the '90s. Greg Doherty / Getty Images For context, Will was 17 years old when he landed the role of Eric Matthews, the older brother of the titular "boy" Cory Matthews, in the ABC sitcom back in 1993. Abc Photo Archives / Getty Images The series ran for seven seasons, and after it concluded in 2000, it was widely reported that Will had agoraphobia after tabloids picked up on how rarely he was seen in public. Cbs Photo Archive / Getty Images Now, Will has opened up about what was actually going on behind the scenes, revealing that he was struggling with anxiety that was so severe it left him bed-bound and self-medicating with alcohol. Barry Brecheisen / Getty Images On Thursday's episode of his podcast Pod Meets World, which Will cohosts alongside his fellow Boy Meets World alumni and best friends Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong, the 49-year-old star reflected on how hard it was to watch himself in Season 7 of the show, because it was the "worst year" of his life. For reference, this is the year that Will turned 23 years old. Ron Galella / Getty Images The trio have been rewatching the series and discussing it on the pod since its launch in 2022, and Thursday marked the first episode of the final season. Will began: "Watching the first episode of Season 7 was very difficult for me; this is the peak anxiety, low part of my life... this was a tough watch for me all the way through." Disney+ "When I started the show, Season 7, I was maybe six or eight weeks into anxiety, which I never experienced before in my life, so I still wasn't talking about it," he went on. "I had just been on medication for maybe a month, which is why I put on so much weight, but my life was spiraling at this point. I mean, badly." Pod Meets World / Via instagram.com He then recalled going to a wig fitting for the episode at hairstylist Laurie Heaps's house, with producer Karen MacKain also present. He shared: "They were just talking, having a conversation, and I had a massive panic attack in the chair, which was just was happening every 10 minutes in my life at this point." Disney+ "It was awful, still not talked about it, so I put a smile on my face, excused myself, went to the bathroom, and essentially broke down in Laurie's bathroom," Will continued. "And I was literally considering climbing out the window. I was like: 'I can't do this, I can't go back to the show, if I can't be in front of these two people that I know and love, I can't be in front of an audience, I can't do this.' So, this was a horrific time." Disney+ Rider then acknowledged how "crazy" it is that he didn't notice how much Will was struggling despite them spending so much time together backstage, saying: "You were always Mr. Positive." To this, Will confessed: "The best acting I've ever done in my life is not letting people know that I was literally dying." Steve Granitz / Getty Images And when Rider remembered taking several trips with Will to Lake Arrowhead in California, Will shared: "There were drives to Arrowhead where I had to pull over every 15 minutes because I was freaking out. I was like: 'I shouldn't be in the car, I shouldn't be driving,' this is arguably the worst year of my life, mental health wise." Barry King / Getty Images Will added that he was "heavily medicated, both by a doctor, and self-medicated with alcohol," by the time that filming for Season 7 started, and when asked how he spent the summer between filming for Season 6 and Season 7, Will recalled shooting the 1999 movie H.E. Double Hockey Sticks in Canada, where he had a panic attack in the middle of a scene - and how this ended up making the final cut. (C)Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection "I was bedridden for three weeks," Will explained. "I was in the middle of a scene with Gabrielle Union, the world flipped, and my life had never been the same since. In the middle of a take, my whole life changed. It was the only time I ever had a Sopranos-style panic attack where I made it to my trailer, the whole trailer spinning, and I passed out." (C)Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection "I called the doctor to the to the set, the doctor's like: 'I think you're having a panic attack,' I went: 'No, it's not that, that's obviously something horrible,' he gave me four 1mg Ativans for the next three weeks of shooting, and I was just struggling with my life," Will recalled, before becoming audibly emotional. "God, it's so strange to talk about this." Pod Meets W