Matthew Lawrence Says He Got In Trouble On Set For Dismissing Gabrielle Union’s 1 Request

Judgment day arrived a bit ahead of schedule for Matthew Lawrence, when he failed to meet one of his co-star’s work standards.

During a candid moment on Monday’s episode of the podcast Magical Rewind, hosted by Matthew’s Boy Meets World co-star Will Friedle and actor Sabrina Bryan, the trio dived into behind-the-scenes of the ’90s TV Movie H-E Double Hockey Sticks.

The film, which centred around Will’s devilish character, who was sent to Earth to capture the soul of a young hockey player (played by Matthew), also starred a young Gabrielle Union.

During the filming process, Gabrielle allegedly wanted to rehearse lines with Matthew, but the actor declined her offer.  

“There was this one moment where — and, again, I’m oblivious, I had no idea — she wanted to rehearse,” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘No, I’m good’.”

His rationale? “Running lines” took “all the freshness” out of the performance. 

Gabrielle allegedly wasn’t thrilled with his decision and took her grievances to a higher power.

“And she got angry and went and reported me to the director and the studio,” Matthew said. “The only time in my entire career, because usually I’m, like, the advocate, and I’m fighting for kids and, like, you know, women’s rights.

“This is the only time in my life when I was called into the office for something I did on set. And I had no clue.”

Matthew confessed that this was his only “run-in” with another actor – a moment that he said left him “embarrassed”.  

At the time, he said he wasn’t familiar with Gabrielle’s work, but recounted that people on set knew that she was going to blow up and become a big star.

The same year as the film’s debut, she went on to star in 10 Things I Hate About You, and She’s All That, and the following year had appeared in the cult classic Bring It On as well as Love & Basketball.