Danielle Fishel says there was a point during her time on Life and Me when she felt compelled to make fun of her own appearance.

The actor, who played Topanga Lawrence in the 1990s ABC sitcom, said the show’s producers and writers called her into an office to “tell” her they were going to write an episode about her actual weight gain.

“It wasn’t really like they asked,” Fishel said on an episode of her podcast “Pod Meets World.”“, published on Monday.

Fishel explained that her co-star Will Friedle, who played Eric Matthews on the TGIF series, had also visibly gained weight at the time. So, she says, the show decided to exploit his body for laughs, too.

“Will had gained some weight,” Fishel said. “I had gained some weight. (And the writers said), ‘Obviously you guys have gained a little weight, so we’re going to do an episode about it. And we just wanted you to know. And that’s how it’s going to be. It’s going to be really funny.'”

Fishel said the “hardest part” of the meeting was that Friedle seemed willing to embarrass himself. (Friedle is a co-host of “Pod Meets World” but did not appear on Monday’s episode.)

“Will was immediately like, ‘Oh yeah. I’m totally fine with it.’ He was, I now know, very insecure and it was really painful for him,” Fishel said. “And for me it was more like, ‘Oh, wow.’ I hadn’t heard anything about it — no one had told me anything. I was aware that I had gained weight, but I was still a size 12.”

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, these people think I’ve gained so much weight that we need to do a whole episode about my weight gain,'” she said. “And I have to say, I’m OK with that, because they didn’t even present me with another alternative. And even if they had, I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable and said, ‘Yeah, I don’t want that.'”

Fishel said the meeting changed her relationship with her body.

“It was always on my mind,” she said.

The episode “She’s Having My Baby Back Ribs” aired in 2000 and focused on Topanga’s insecurities about her body. In the opening scene, Topanga asks Eric directly, “Do you think I’m fat?”

Eric, who had just unbuttoned his pants to sit down, answered cheerfully, “Yes.”

Topanga then tries to convince Eric that they should go on a diet together while Eric stuffs his stomach with food.

Although lazy jokes about weight are spread throughout the episode, the worst scene comes toward the end, when Topanga has to explain to her husband Cory (Ben Savage) — and a whole room full of people — that she’s not pregnant, she’s just “fat.” The show then tries to turn the fatphobia of the previous half hour into a lesson about unfair beauty standards.

“Unfortunately, we live in a society where we are asked to look a certain way, so we are all under pressure to live up to unrealistic expectations,” says the series’ wise character, Mr. Feeny (William Daniels).

Almost immediately after Mr. Feeny drops these wise words, Eric makes another fat joke while stuffing his belly.

Representatives for ABC Entertainment and Walt Disney Studios did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. HuffPost reached out to an attorney for Michael Jacobs, co-creator of “Life and Me,” but did not receive a response.

In a podcast two years ago, Fishel said Jacobs humiliated her at a staff meeting when she was 12 and had just joined the show.

In 2010, Fishel told People that during her time on Life and Me she became so obsessed with her weight that she developed eating disorders that included taking laxatives, eating only iceberg lettuce, and occasional vomiting.

“I was terrified of eating,” Fishel told the magazine.

If you are struggling with an eating disorder, call, text, or chat 988 at 988lifeline.org for support.