Danielle Fishel's time on "Dancing With the Stars" has been filled with long days of rehearsals and live shows — but it turns out her demanding schedule also had an emotional impact at home.

The 44-year-old actress revealed that her 6-year-old son, Adler, told his teacher she had "died" because she'd been away so much for the ABC dance competition.

Fishel opened up about the surprising moment on the November 10 episode of her "Pod Meets World" podcast, which she co-hosts with "Boy Meets World" alums Rider Strong and Will Friedle.

"It's his teacher," Fishel said, recalling a phone call from Adler's school, Yahoo reported.

"She says, 'So, we had a little bit of an issue today with Adler and I wanted to talk to you about it.'"

According to Fishel, Adler had been struggling to focus on his schoolwork. When his teacher asked what was wrong, he said he was "feeling very stressed" because "his dad inputted a lot of information on the computer wrong and got fired." He then added, "Also, my mom died."

"None of this is true," Fishel clarified on the podcast, laughing at the dark turn her son's imagination took.

She explained that Adler later admitted, "maybe it's not true," but the comment made it clear how much her absence had affected him.

Danielle Fishel's Son Begs Her to Quit 'DWTS'

Fishel said that day she skipped her physical therapy session to pick Adler up from school early. When she arrived, he ran to her and asked, "What are we doing tonight?"

She reminded him that he had movie night with friends, but when she mentioned she had to return to rehearsal afterward, he burst into tears.

"He said, 'I hate this job! Why did you take this job? All you do is dance, dance, dance. You never get to hang out with me and Keaton anymore. I want you to quit,'" Fishel recalled.

According to US Magazine, she said she gently explained that she couldn't quit because she loved her job and had made a commitment, but promised that "DWTS" would be "over by Thanksgiving" and that they'd spend more time together soon.

The emotional conversation happened just days before Fishel and her dance partner, Pasha Pashkov, were eliminated from the competition after performing a contemporary routine to Aerosmith's "Dream On."

Through tears, Fishel said on her separate "Danielle With..." podcast, "Tonight was my last night, my last dance. I was eliminated, and I have such a wide range of emotions. I was so lucky that Pasha was my partner."

Tags
Danielle Fishel, Dancing with the Stars