Credit: @trinamcgeeofficial
She began her career on the hit sitcom Boy Meets World in 1997 as a recurring character during the show’s fifth season. However, she was quickly bumped up to a main character in seasons six and seven of the hit show. Trina McGee played the lovely girlfriend of Rider Strong’s character, Shawn, whose name was Angela. McGee’s been acting since 2002, and her role in Boy Meets World might be her most famous. Sadly, there were several incidents within the show that she didn’t talk about until much later, and she’s currently making amends, figuring things out, and getting to the bottom of the racism she encountered.
1. A Showrunner Asked Her Turn Down Her Blackness
While filming her hit show, she was asked by none other than Michael Jacobs to turn it down a notch. According to McGee, her ‘black meter’ was turned up too high, and he asked her to “turn down the Telma Hopkins about eight notches” while filming. She laughs about it now, but she also makes a point to her fellow costars that they’re fortunate they’re not asked to do things like that when they’re on set.
2. She and Will Friedle Had a Racist Incident
Back when they were filming the show in the 90s, Will Friedle once called McGee “Aunt Jemima,” and she was hurt. Friedle apologized to her at the time, and he did so again when it was brought up in the 2020s. McGee made it clear that she had moved past it and that her old friend, Will Friedle, meant it when he apologized. “We talked more on it, and he acknowledged that he really wasn’t educated enough in his early twenties to know he was truly offending me” and that it should serve as a teaching moment for all.
Credit: @trinamcgeeofficial
3. She Also Apologized to Will Friedle
McGee was a class act when she apologized in return to Will Friedle. She made his comments very public and brought attention to something that was not intended to harm her or offend but to make her laugh. “Will apologized to me, and I forgave him, I then apologized to him for making the statements public because his joke came out of just not knowing, not viciousness, and he forgave me. That’s what friends do,” she said of the entire situation. It was a classy move on her part, and she and Will Friedle both handled themselves well. They owned their behavior, and they apologized for it. Further, they both learned from their reactions.
4. A Massive Misunderstanding Was Cleared Up in 2022
Angela was noticeably absent from the series finale of Boy Meets World, and her fellow costars asked her about it during a 2022 podcast taping. They were curious why she did not return for the final episode, and she was shocked by their question. She was under the impression that they went to the showrunners and asked that she not return because they felt that she took too much attention away from them. They were appalled by the accusation and made it clear that this absolutely did not happen. Someone important from the show told her that this happened, but it did not. Now that they are all clear on this, they can go back to not having any weirdness between them.
5. She Shocked Her BMW Fans With a Pregnancy Announcement
The thing about McGee is that she’s a full 11 years older than Rider Strong, who was her boyfriend on the show. They were playing characters who were the same age, but she was a married woman who was actually pregnant while filming. Of course, that couldn’t be added to the storyline because of the ages and such, but her fans never knew that about her until 2022.
6. Trina McGee is In Her 50s
Something many people don’t realize about her is that she truly is much older than her co-stars. She’s 53 in February of 2023, which means that her costars, who are all in their early 40s, really were in a different place back then. However, the good news for McGee is that she certainly looks much closer to their ages than her own. That’s a gift.
7. She Enjoyed the Escape of Playing Angela
She spent all day playing a teenager on television; then she’d come home to her husband and their three kids while filming. It was such a cool experience for her to get to do that and say she had that ability. Everyone else was playing a character their own age, and she was sitting there, an adult doing the teen thing on television.
Credit: @trinamcgeeofficial
8. She is Divorced
During her time on the set of BMW, she was a married woman. She and her husband, however, did not manage to make their marriage last. They were divorced by 2001, not too long after she finished filming the show.
9. The Angela/Shawn Relationship Was Never Addressed
There was a sort of disconnect from the world with this one. Their interracial relationship happened, but no one addressed it on television. They dated, then they didn’t, then they did, and then they didn’t, and that was that. There was no one saying anything about it or trying to educate anyone. Rider Strong came out years later to say that the lack of discussion about their interracial relationship was nothing short of naïve.
10. She’s Been in Many Other Films
McGee isn’t playing the role of a teenager on television any longer, but she did have several movie roles to her name. She was in movies such as Friday and many more. Her talent allowed her to go on to create a successful career for herself, and she’s proud of that.
Follow Us
