Random Most Depressing Backstories Shawn From 'Boy Meets World' Had (15 items)

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  (#1) He Moved Schools A Lot When He Was Super Young

  Though Shawn may spend his teen years in the desk directly behind Cory, it takes him a while to get settled into a long term school. In an episode called "City Slackers," Mr. Feeny drops a random bit of trivia when he reveals that Shawn bounced around between five different schools before he was 12 years old.

  Who knows what that whole story is, but given Shawn's family life, it's probably not surprising that his parents went through a vagabond stage. 
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  (#2) He Comes From A Poor Family

  From the beginning, hints about Shawn's issues being tied to his upbringing are subtly dropped. But it's in episode 10 of Season 1, "Santa's Little Helper," that the writers decided to really spell out his home life. Suspicions arise when Shawn stops buying his favorite lunch at school and begins showing up with packed lunches instead. He then keeps dodging Minkus's request to donate $5 for a class Christmas gift for Mr. Feeny.

  Cory finally discovers through his dad that Shawn's father has been laid off and can't afford any Christmas gifts or even lunch money for Shawn. In true TGIF fashion, things end up working out fine as everyone learns a few lessons about the true spirit of Christmas. But as we later see throughout the series, Shawn's financial situation continues to plague him throughout his young life.
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  (#3) His Parents Keep Abandoning Him

  When you consider that Shawn grew up with little to no parental guidance, it's a wonder he turned out as well as he did. First, there's his dad, Chet. Chet first makes an appearance in Season 2 in an episode called "Career Day," during which he shows up at Shawn and Cory's school and mostly coasts through the career day by telling tall tales.

  A reformed alcoholic, Chet has had several wives and a great many lovers, which makes his family tree a bit complicated, to say the least. Unfortunately, he's married to a woman named Virna who keeps taking the family trailer and leaving town. Chet always insists on going after her, even if it means leaving Shawn to couch-hop between friends. 
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  (#4) His Mom Reveals She Isn't His Biological Mother

  As if Shawn's home life wasn't crazy enough by Season 7, his mom drops some huge news on him in an episode titled "Family Trees." It turns out that although Shawn grew up thinking Virna was his mom, she informs him in a letter that she is actually not his biological mother. Considering that Chet was rumored to have been married 62 times, this is not hard to believe, but still leaves Shawn feeling understandably shaken.

  After trying to figure out who his biological mom is on the internet, he finally finds out she left right after he was born. 
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  (#5) He Almost Loses His Guardian, Mr. Turner

  By Season 4, episode 21, Shawn has bounced around to several temporary homes, including a stay with his teacher, Mr. Turner. Though he's doing the whole rebellion thing, Shawn is shocked when he discovers that Turner has been in a horrible motorcycle accident and rushes to the hospital to pray over his body.

  Fortunately, Shawn's prayers seem to be answered and Turner lives, even though this episode is the last we ever see of him in Boy Meets World. References to his recovery are dropped later in the series, but it's not until years later in Girl Meets World that Turner finally shows back up and explains that he took a principal job at another school. 
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  (#6) He Finds Out He Has Not One But Two Secret Brothers

  Season 5 opens with a big surprise for Shawn, in the form of his long lost half-brother Jack. In the episode, aptly named "Brothers," it's revealed that Jack is Chet's older son, who Shawn initially resents. Shawn complains that Jack grew up in a fancy home and feels like he's shunned Chet and the rest of the family for his entire life. It's later revealed that Jack's mom left Chet because he was an abusive alcoholic when they were together. Shawn's other siblings include Eddie, who is briefly introduced in the episode "The Pink Flamingo Kid."

  Shawn grows up thinking that Eddie, who lives with his mom, Virna, in the trailer park, is his brother. Later on in the series, however, it's revealed that Eddie is a half-brother, due to the fact that Virna doesn't turn out to be Shawn's biological mom. Shawn also apparently has a sister named Stacy, but she's only referred to in Season 1, episode 4 and is never mentioned again.   
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  (#7) He Can't Afford College - But A Secret Changes That

  After Chet's passing, Shawn discovers another horrible truth when cleaning out his dad's old trailer. As it turns out, Chet had asked Jack's dad for help with money so he could send Shawn to college. This outrages Shawn, who has always been horrified at the prospect of taking charity from anyone, no matter how bad things got.

  This once more throws his plans for the future into disarray and it's only after a tantrum that Shawn comes to realize that Jack's dad was only trying to help. Ultimately, he pulls it together and ends up going to college at Pennbrook with Cory and Topanga. 
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  (#8) His Trust Issues Hinder His Relationship With Angela

  As Shawn himself finally admits, "I'm afraid of getting hurt, okay? I've seen the pain on my father's face every time a woman walks out because he's not good enough.” Due to his shaky upbringing and his dad's horrible track record with women, Shawn definitely has some intimacy issues to work out. He remains charismatic throughout most of his teen years until finally meeting Angela in his senior year of high school. It's then that Shawn finally settles into the closest thing he's had to a long term relationship up to that point. Things go downhill fast in Season 6, however, when Shawn decides he wants to play the field in college and breaks up with Angela.

  The only problem is that they're both still in love with each other. They reunite in Season 7 but ultimately part when Angela decides to spend some time in Europe with her father. They don't meet again until years later in Girl Meets World when Angela reveals that she ended up marrying someone else. 
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  (#9) He Goes To Work For The Mob

  In an episode called "Easy Street," Shawn discovers that Cory has accidentally taken a job working for the mob. After Cory immediately quits, Shawn decides to take a risk and ends up signing on for the position himself. How bad could it be, right?

  At first, things seem to be going well, as Shawn finds himself well compensated for completing a number of increasingly shady tasks. Ultimately, however, Shawn (with Cory's help) realizes that getting in deep with the mob is probably not the best life choice and respectfully vacates his position. 
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  (#10) He Is Repeatedly Left Homeless 

  With Shawn's dad, Chet, always taking off, Shawn ends up homeless several times. During Season 2, he stays with Cory and the Matthews but doesn't take well to following their rules. As time goes on with no word from his dad, Shawn begins to think that he'll never have a home and compares himself to a stray dog.

  When his dad finally does call, it's only to say that he's not coming back any time soon. Cory's dad gets upset and, not realizing Shawn is listening, tries to explain to Chet that they can't keep Shawn forever. Feeling unwanted, Shawn attempts to run away but finally ends up staying with his English teacher, Mr. Turner. 
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  (#11) He Joins A Cult

  In an episode called "Cult Fiction," Shawn meets a girl at school who introduces him to a sketchy place called "The Center." With promises of being accepted for who he is, Shawn decides that joining the cult might finally give him a sense of belonging.

  In the end, it takes learning that his mentor, Mr. Turner, has been in a horrible motorcycle accident to snap him back to reality.
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  (#12) He's Super Jealous When Cory Marries Topanga

  Given that Cory and Shawn have always been the best of friends, Shawn has a really hard time when Cory finally marries Topanga in Season 7. He gets so upset at the thought of Topanga taking his place as Cory's new best pal, that he storms out and causes a huge amount of problems that almost ruin the wedding altogether. In the end, he comes to his senses and shows back up just in the knick of time, but even admits in his speech at the reception that the end of he and Cory's bromance has been super hard for him.

  "Cory and I have been best friends all our lives. And, um, this wedding’s been kinda hard for me because I know - no matter how much we may avoid talking about it - Cory and I aren’t gonna be best friends forever." Talk about bittersweet. 
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  (#13) He Has Issues With Cory And Topanga's Kids

  In Girl Meets World, we discover that Shawn has even managed to develop issues when it comes to Cory and Topanga's kids, Auggie and Riley. Though he was the first to hold the newborn Riley, he leaves for NYC the same day to become a travel writer. Throughout the years, his contact with Riley and Auggie remains incredibly limited, even when he visits.

  Though the kids understandably take this to mean that "Uncle Shawn" doesn't care for them much, it turns out that seeing the happy family simply reminds Shawn of how lonely he is. After Riley finally confronts him about his inability to even look at her, he realizes that he's being a tad selfish and resolves to do better about developing a relationship with the kids in the future.   
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  (#14) His Dad Finally Makes Amends - And Then Passes

  After struggling to come to terms with his dad for 6 seasons, Shawn finally experiences a moment of healing with Chet in the episode "We'll Have A Good Time Then." 

  Chet ends up in the hospital after having a heart attack and finally gets real with his sons, attempting to make amends for his crappy parenting. This would be lovely, if not for the fact that he promptly passes later that night. 
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  (#15) He Has A History Of Vandalism

  Shawn may be a pretty good guy at heart, but he develops quite the history of accidental vandalism. In Season 1, he becomes a "fugitive" after accidentally blowing a mailbox up. Okay, so he was really just trying to hide the item from onlookers, but he assumes that the law may or may not understand his destruction of property and goes on the run. Then, there's the incident in Season 3 when he and Cory accidentally set the chemistry lab on fire at school when they break into it at night to try to turn in their late papers.

  Season 5 sees Shawn and Cory's encounter with alcohol go terribly wrong when the vehicle they urinate on turns out to be a cop car. Last but not least, Season 2 showcases Shawn being brought to Mr. Turner's house by a cop after he's caught attempting to vandalize the school with a group of older kids. This makes you wonder whether Shawn maybe did enjoy his attempts at public redecoration just a bit, whether they were intentional or not.

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