This past week, Rider Strong, best known for his role as Shawn Hunter on the iconic '90s TV show Boy Meets World, announced that his wife gave birth to their first child at the end of December. Rider and his wife were able to keep this pregnancy and birth a secret from the media, but really, who is surprised? Back in the '90s, Shawn Hunter was the master of schemes and deception and surely Rider would have learned more than a few tips from his TV alter ego. In honor of Shawn Hunter officially growing up and taking the step into parenthood, let’s take a look back at some of his greatest moments throughout the show’s seven year run.
Shawn was always the greatest best friend a kid could have. It’s hard to argue that there is a greater friendship than Cory and Shawn’s. Shawn loved Cory for who he was, even though it was completely different than who he was himself.
There was no one in the world that he loved more than Cory.
He even named his pig after him!
He even dressed up like a girl to help Cory prove a point.
But wait...who does this remind you of?
That's right, a nineties Neve Campbell!
He always cared about Cory’s relationship with Topanga because, as Cory and Shawn have the greatest friendship ever, Cory and Topanga had the best love story of all time and Shawn would never let anything ruin it.
Seriously, he was always defending their love.
Maybe a bit too much...even when it was yelling at Cory for screwing things up.
But he just wanted the best for his best friend.
Because if there was one thing to make everything better in Cory’s life, it was always Shawn.
Shawn wasn't afraid to cry when he needed his best friend to talk to him and make sure that their friendship was secure, even after Cory's marriage.
So when Shawn fell in love, Cory was right there beside him to help him through it.
Because when Shawn Hunter says he’s all in, he’s all in.
After all, he did teach us the most important lesson about love.
But Shawn always cared about helping others, like when he would let his friend Claire stay at his home so she could get away from her abusive father.
Shawn never had it easy in life, he was always facing obstacles that made it hard for him to succeed.
He was never the smartest kid in school.
But sometimes he got a lucky guess in there.
But he always had a good heart and always tried to make up for his mistakes.
His horror movie knowledge came in handy when the gang was trapped inside the school with a killer.
In the fourth season, Shawn struggled to understand the meaning of life, prompting him to join a cult. However, he realized that he could not find meaning and love in this cult once he found out that his teacher, mentor and good friend Jonathan Turner was in critical condition after a biking accident. Shawn gave one of the most moving speeches to Jonathan and then God during this scene and I am still shocked that it didn’t earn him an Emmy.
“John, how could you be in here? How could you screw up on your bike? I have never seen you screw up on anything. I'm the screw-up, remember? C'mon you remember... Don't do this to me, John. I don't do alone real good... I know you're in there but it's like you're not really here. You're not talking but I know you're here. So I'm just gonna talk, you can listen. John, even when I was at the Centre, it was all the things you taught me that made me wonder if it was the right place for me or not. But you didn't teach me enough. You, and Cory, and my parents, and the Matthews and the handful of people who really care about me, so don't blow me off, John. Don't blow me off, God. I never asked you for anything before and I never wanted to come to you like this, but don't take Turner away from me; he's not done yelling at me yet. God, you're not talking but I know you're here, so I'm gonna talk, and you can listen. God, I don't wanna be empty inside any more.”
And when he almost didn’t get to say goodbye to his dad, Chet. He finally got his “I love you” moments before his father died of a heart attack.
And when he thanked Feeny for all that he did for him in life because it was a long road.
Congrats Rider Strong and good luck with parenthood!
