NEED TO KNOW
Danielle Fishel’s son wasn’t too happy about his mom being gone to perform on Dancing with the Stars.
The actress, 44, appeared on the Pod Meets World podcast on Monday, Nov. 10, and shared that while things appeared to be going well at home while she was on the show, Fishel quickly realized there were some problems when she got a phone call from her son’s school.
“So my family has had to make so many adjustments to our daily life since I started season 34 of Dancing with the Stars,” began Fishel, who shares sons Adler, 6, and Keaton, 4, with husband Jensen Karp. “I’m just not able to be there as often as I used to be.”
Fishel explained that she used to be able to pick her kids up from school, take them to their afternoon activities and be at their baseball games. However, with her busy schedule, she hasn’t been able to be “too present.”
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She continued, saying at the beginning they were “thriving” and everyone was “stoked.” Fishel said it was nice not to have “constant house pressure” and considered the relief and time away a gift. But then she got a call from her son Adler’s school.
“It’s his teacher,” said Fishel. “And she says, so we had a little bit of an issue today with Adler, and I wanted to talk to you about it. And we’re like, ‘Okay. What happened?’ And she said, ‘Well, he’s been having a little bit of trouble self-starting on some of his work.'”
Fishel said her son’s teacher asked him what was wrong, and Adler responded that his dad had recently gotten fired, which wasn’t true.
“And the teacher was like, ‘Oh well, that does sound stressful.’ And [Adler] said, ‘Yeah. My dad’s upset about it, and he’s very nervous.’ And then he said, ‘And also my mom died,’ ” said Fishel. “And the teacher said, ‘I’m sorry?’ And he was like, ‘Yes. My mom is dead.'”
The Boy Meets World alum explained that her son’s teacher asked Adler to explain more about what was going on. She said Adler kept going, continually saying his mom had died. The teacher was concerned and reached out to Fishel, who decided to pick Adler up from school.
“So I get to the school and he sees me on campus and he goes running to me. He goes, ‘Mom, what are you doing here?’ ” Fishel remembered. “And he said, ‘This is a Friday night. And what are you doing here?'”
Fishel told her son she’d just gotten out of rehearsal and that she just missed him. When he asked what their plans were for the evening, Adler told Fishel he just wanted to hang out with her.
“And I said, ‘Well, actually, while you are at movie night, I have to go back to rehearsal,” Fishel said. “And he bursts into tears. And says, ‘I hate this job. Why did you take this job? All you do is dance, dance, dance, dance. That’s all you do. You never get to hang out with me and Keaton anymore. I want you to quit. Are you going to quit or not?'”
“And I said, I was like, ‘Oh. It seems like maybe you’ve been feeling this way for a while,’ ” she continued. “And maybe you just haven’t been telling anybody.”
The mom of two said her son immediately started owning up to feeling upset. When she tried to comfort him in the backseat of their car, Adler kicked his mom’s hand away.
“And I said, ‘I’m sorry because I have obviously not done a good enough job of being able to connect with you when I have been able to see you,’ ” Fishel recalled. “And I know that I haven’t seen you as much as I was able to be with you before, but my love doesn’t change when we’re apart.’ And he was like, ‘I just need to know if you’re gonna quit.'”
“And I said, ‘Mommy is not going to quit her job.’ And he said, ‘Why? Why won’t you quit your job?’ ” remembered the star. “And I said, ‘Well, a couple of reasons. One, mommy really loves her job. And two, because this job is not forever, and I made a commitment to the job. So I’m not going to quit.'”
Although Fishel had explained her reasoning, her son was still upset. He ended up leaving the car and slamming the door to go inside the house. After a few minutes, he called for Fishel and the two hugged.
“We’re still working through it,” admitted the mom of two. Despite her son’s complaints to quit, Fishel stayed on the show and was eliminated during last week’s episode.
