Matthew Lawrence Says Justin Timberlake Thought He Was 'So Mean' When *NSYNC Visited theBoy Meets WorldSet

Mar. 15, 2025

Matthew Lawrence and Justin Timberlake in 1998.Photo:Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images (2)

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images (2)

It seems the male cast members ofBoy Meets Worldweren’t particularlyin syncwith a certain boy band when they visited the set of the beloved ’90s sitcom.

On the most recent episode of rewatch podcastPod Meets World,Matthew Lawrencejoined hostsDanielle Fishel,Will FriedleandRider Strongto share memories of their time starring inBoy Meets World, including of*NSYNC’s frequent visits to the show’s set.

“I don’t know if you guys — well, of course, you remember this — but when *NYSYNC kept coming over to the set?” Lawrence recalled. “I found out years later when I bumped intoJustin [Timberlake]that he thought I was not very nice.”

Will Friedle, Rider Strong and Matthew Lawrence in 1997.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

“He didn’t like me. And he flat out told me to my face,” Lawrence said, recalling an encounter he had with the “Cry Me a River” singer around the time that his debut solo albumJustifiedwas released in 2002. “I was ahugefan. I didn’t have any recollection of this, and he was like, ‘Oh, yeah. Yeah, now you wanna be friends with me? You were so mean on the set.’ ”

Lawrence and Strong chalked Timberlake’s take on the actor up to Lawrence’s shyness.

“I was super shy,” Lawrence said, “and also, I had, you know, kind of a crush on Danielle. And these guys kept rolling up on set, like, trying to hit on her!”

“Just orbiting around Danielle in a constant circle,” Strong recalled.

*NSYNC in 1999.Bob Berg/Getty

Bob Berg/Getty

“I was wonder if you were gonna say it,” Fishel said, laughing. “I was like, I also know why he was probably a little sandoffish …”

“I remember us guys would always be like, ‘These dudes! Oh my god, they come around here…’ ” Strong recalled. “And we would watch Danielle, like, completely ignore all of us. We would, like, lose our sister. We would just lose her, and we’d be like, ‘Oh, god. She totally changes around them. She just totally changes.’ ”

Friedle joked that, despite her “one-in-five chance” of finding romance with a member of one of the biggest pop acts in the world at the time, Fishel “chose poorly.”

The actress famously datedLance Bassfor about a year while she was still starring inBoy Meets World, and the singer even escorted Fishel to her high school prom. Bass, of course, came out publicly as gay in 2006. On a 2022 episode ofPod Meets World, the pair said they wereworking on a film based on their teen romance.

Danielle Fishel and Lance Bass in 2006.John M. Heller/Getty

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“I liked the comfort and security of knowingnothingwas gonna happen!” Fishel joked of her relationship with Bass on this week’s episode of the podcast.

“He’s like, ‘Dude, this is insane,’ ” Friedle recalled. “I’m like, ‘Yeah. This is what we do. This is our day at work.’ ”

source: people.com