Maitland Ward says Boy Meets World producers ‘asked’ her ‘to try on lingerie’, in new memoir
Ward’s book ‘Rated X: How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood’ provides a behind-the-scenes look at the porn industry and Hollywood
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Maitland Ward has claimed Boy Meets World producers “asked” her to “try on lingerie” for them, in her new book.
The 45-year-old former Hollywood actor – who starred as Rachel McGuire in the sixth and seventh seasons of the 1993 sitcom – made the allegations in her recently released debut memoir, Rated X: How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood.
“I was asked to try on lingerie for [Boy Meets World] producers in the office. This happened more than once, as Rachel was the only character to consistently take off her clothes,” an excerpt from Ward’s book, obtained by New York Post, reads.
“An assistant would gather me from my dressing room and take me upstairs where I’d be provided with a series of options, some playful and girlish, some so provocative I knew that Disney would never approve them, but still I would try them on.”
The seven-season series originally aired in full on ABC. However, the network eventually merged with Disney’s film studios in 1995.
She continued: “I’d strip down behind a curtain so thin I’m sure they could see the silhouette of my naked form. As I changed, I could hear the group of them – mostly men – making small talk and laughing as an audience would before a show.
“When I stepped out, I was directed to stand in the centre while they’d make their judgments on whether it showed too much or not nearly enough to get the boys excited,” she explained.
“‘You’re like a daughter to me,’ Michael [Jacobs, the show’s creator] said, shaking his head, with a laugh of embarrassment. And then I’d be directed to try on something else.”
She recalled that Jacobs “specifically picked out the famed purple number for the episode where Rachel danced around washing dishes to teach Cory [Ben Savage] and Shawn [Rider Strong], as well as their girlfriends, a lesson”.
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“It’s not too much but just enough; those guys will go crazy,” Ward claimed Jacobs told her.
“They said it would expand my storylines, but really it just felt like it allowed for another set of boys to ogle me.”
The Independent has contacted Disney for comment.
Ward formally retired from mainstream acting in 2007. She later jumped into the porn industry in 2019, saying that it “put the power back in my hands. Studios wouldn’t give me that”.
Rated X: How Porn Liberated Me from Hollywood is out now.