Who Is William Daniels? 'Boy Meets World' Star Abused By Mother And Realized It Only Decades Later

Actor William Daniels, who is best known for his role as Mr. Feeny in "Boy Meets World," said in his memoir he was abused as a child and only realized it many decades later thanks to a psychologist he began seeing as an adult, Entertainment Tonight reported.

"Many decades later, when I started writing this book, I started seeing a psychologist ... who suggested that I was an abused child," Daniels, 89, said, adding, “I was shocked to hear such a description — that I had been robbed of a normal childhood, forced to perform and put into situations that I had no control over."

"It was unhealthy, my doctor said, that I was unable to express my anger, my fears and my dread of knowing what was expected of me in the future," he said.

In his memoir, "There I Go Again: How I Came to Be Mr. Feeny, John Adams, Dr. Craig, KITT & Many Others," Daniels noted he was forced to become a child actor by his mother, required to sing and dance alongside his sisters Jacqueline and Carol for long hours, even on weekends, ET reported Tuesday.

However, despite being compelled to perform, Daniels said acting is where his heart lies.

"Clearly acting is what I wanted to do," he said. "And what I've always wanted to do in spite of the countless times I said no and tried to push it all away."

He also mentioned that his mother refused to give him or his sisters any compliments, which bothered him greatly, he said.

"Mother believed, rather firmly, that children get 'swelled heads' if they had too much praise," he recalled.

Daniels said he didn’t want to accept that he was an abused child, but eventually, he confronted his parents about his entire childhood, adding that his mother, now deceased, never once made eye contact during the conversation. To date, he still wonders how it even got that far.

"Why was I such a wimp and couldn't say no? In my defense, I was just a child. But still," he wrote.