Fran Drescher has a new sitcom coming out on June 15 on TV Land called Happily Divorced. We’ll be treated to her nasal voice, ear-splitting gaffaws and terrible outfits soon enough. I find The Nanny mildly annoying when it’s dubbed on German television, but it’s a huge hit still and is syndicated around the world so I get why Fran is back on television. (She had another series in 2005 on The WB called Living with Fran, but that only last a year.) Fran produced the Nanny along with her then-husband, who was with her for 21 years starting as her high school sweetheart and came out as gay after they split up. I vaguely remember hearing this story before, but it’s still very interesting to hear Fran explain it as the plot for her new show. She’s now friends with her ex and he has a new boyfriend. They’re even producing this new show together.

Fran Drescher plays Fran, a Los Angeles florist whose world is turned upside down when her Realtor husband, Peter (John Michael Higgins), comes out of the closet – but can’t afford to move out! And the real Fran is bringing this story to life with Peter Marc Jacobson, her longtime collaborator and actual ex husband, who announced he was gay shortly after their marriage ended! Fran tells Star about one of Hollywood’s most unlikely partnerships.

So how realistic is this story?
Well, it’s inspired by my life, but Peter and I divorced for other reasons after The Nanny ended. Then, a year or two after that he came out as gay.

How did he break the news?
He said, “I want you to know that I have been dating men of late, and I don’t want you to be shocked if a story comes out.” I was already with somebody else for a couple of years, so it didn’t impact me in the same way that it does my character?

Have [you] ever gone to [your] ex husband for relationship advice, like your character does on the show?
Actually, I dated a guy for about a year who gave me that inspiration. We were becoming friends as a trio, so if I had problems Peter would be the one who helped me resolve it. Peter became a confidant to me because he knows me so well, so through this other person we actually got closer.

Is it really possible to be with a man and not know he’s gay?
Maybe the last third of the marriage Peter got in touch with his bisexuality, but we made the choice to stay in our relationship. So we lived together for several more years. But then I needed to find myself and had a very cliche midlife crisis!

[From Star Magazine, print edition, June 20, 2011]

The real story is at the end, where Fran says her husband came out as bisexual toward the last third of their marriage, which would have been about seven years and that they stayed together through that. Was he seeing men on the side and did she give her ok to that? I can’t imagine doing that and I doubt the show will address it at all. It will probably be Will and Grace with a twist, with some contrived situations with the new boyfriend and lame jokes about their sexless marriage.

Header photo is from 2007. First Photo below from 2/24/11. Photo of Fran in white dress from 6/9/11. Holy Botox. Credit: WENN.com

Nasal-voiced wonder Fran Drescher, 52, was married to a man for 21 years who ultimately came out as gay. Fran is best of friends with her ex, Peter Marc Jacobson, a writer/actor who co produced the hit 90s sitcom on which Fran starred, The Nanny. The two were separated for several years before divorcing in 1999. Now Jacobson and Drescher are working on a sitcom together loosely based on their true life experience. It sounds positive and potentially fun, although given their past work it could easily veer into pure cornball territory:

Fran Drescher has never been shy about voicing her support for gay rights: In 2008, she and her former husband co-hosted a cocktail party in LA to benefit an organization that has sought to block California’s ban on same-sex marriage. But it turns out that the cause was even closer to the Nanny star’s heart than her fans could have guessed — as In Touch can now exclusively reveal, Peter Marc Jacobson, the man to whom Fran, 52, was married for more than two decades, is gay. “Peter and I met when we were 15,” Fran tells In Touch. “We were just kids and didn’t know who we truly were. We went through a lot together.” The couple split for good in 1999, and according to an insider, Peter later came out of the closet to Fran. They continue to collaborate and are still “the best of friends. We love each other dearly,” she says. “We have even fixed each other up! I more successfully than him, by the way.” They’re even working together on a new sitcom based on their relationship. “Peter and I feel so blessed to have met each other and to still have a caring, loving relationship,” Fran says. “Love is what we’re all about.”

[From In Touch Weekly via Huffington Post]

It sounds like these two are still pitching this show and hoping to get some interest in it. They could probably use the money, but I bet they still do pretty well off the residuals for The Nanny. As annoying as that show is, it really appeals to international audiences and is shown in 20 other countries around the world, including Australia, Italy and Russia. I see it dubbed on German TV all the time. Maybe this new show will be a hit for them, although it’s hard to imagine that it will be groundbreaking in any way or involve any characters that aren’t predictable stereotypes. Hopefully their storytelling ability has matured in the past 10 years.

Fran Drescher and Peter Marc Jacobson are shown in 2007 in the header. She is shown below on 4/2/10. Holy Botox! Credit: WENN.com

Fran Drescher is intending to enter politics, or at least that’s how it seems. While we mostly remember her as the whiny voiced nanny, she’s actually been working fairly tirelessly for new cancer legislation (which she was successful in getting passed by congress) for several years now, following her own bout of uterine cancer in 2000.

“I’ve just been given the appointment of U.S. diplomat,” she said at a party for Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven at that restaurant on December 3. “My title is public diplomacy envoy for women’s health issues, and I just got back from a four-country European tour of duty. I believe next I’ll be sent to the Middle East.”

Also an anti-cancer activist, Drescher has been considering a run for office. “I’ve been very successful in getting a bill passed in Washington,” she said. “I was thinking I’d take the next four years to lay some groundwork, but I’m throwing my hat in the ring.” What else makes her a good candidate? “I’m an authentic and honest person,” she said. “And I think Capitol Hill needs more of that.”

New York magazine

Go for it, I say! If Arnold Swartzenegger can be governor of California, why can’t Fran Drescher enter politics?

The international trip she is referring to is to Hungary, Kosovo and Romania, which she writes about articulately on her blog on her Cancer Schmancer website.

The bills she has campaigned for include provisions for a gynecological cancer awareness campaign, funding for cancer research, better health coverage for breast cancer patients, and cancer education and screening programs.

Given that most of us know someone who has suffered from cancer, I think that Fran could find this a hugely successful platform to enter politics. Unlike Sarah Palin she’s already got the clothes – how fabulous does this woman look for 51?

Fran Drescher is shown at a Le Cirque event in NY on 12/3/08. Credit: PRPhotos

Uterine cancer survivor and “The Nanny” star Fran Drescher has been named as a U.S. public diplomacy envoy on the issue of women’s health- particularly cancer prevention and care.

On Monday, Sept. 8, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will name the Emmy and Golden Globe nominee the newest member of the State Department’s Public Diplomacy Envoy program. Drescher will join the ranks of figure skater Michelle Kwan and baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr.

Like the other envoys, Drescher will travel the world promoting America’s image. The State Department, which oversees the program, says she will focus her energy on issues close to her heart, namely women’s health and cancer awareness and prevention.

Drescher, herself a cancer survivor, founded Cancer Schmancer, a nonprofit organization that works to ensure women’s cancers are diagnosed in their early stages, when they are most curable.

Her first trip abroad will be to eastern Europe later this month. The State Department says Drescher will travel to Romania, Hungary, Kosovo and Poland. She is also expected to take a trip to the Middle East.

The actress, known for her trademark nasal voice, Queens accent and staccato laugh, also appeared in the movies “Saturday Night Fever,” “This Is Spinal Tap,” “The Beautician and the Beast” and “Jack.”

Kwan, and Ripkin who were named as envoys in 2006 and 2007, respectively, have been traveling the world using the universal language of sports to promote understanding among young people.

Drescher, who will be the first nonathlete envoy, was offered the job over a year ago by then undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs Karen Hughes, a former White House adviser to President Bush.

Hughes, who has since left Washington to return to her native Texas, described the Special Envoy program in a 2007 speech as an attempt to “reach out to that vital audience of young people” and provide a way “to counter extremism and foster greater tolerance and respect for diversity and differences.”

Drescher has said that it took her two years and seven different doctors to properly diagnose her cancer. In her book, “Cancer Schmancer,” the actress talks about how gynelogical care has not advanced. “The big problem with the typical exam is we don’t get tested for anything north of the cervix,” Drescher wrote. “What about the uterus and the ovaries? The doctor still gives you a manual pelvic exam which is like something out of the Dark Ages.” If someone with Fran’s money and access to leading doctors has that kind of trouble getting care, you can imagine how other women are faring- in this country and in other parts of the world. I don’t know how much Drescher will actually be able to accomplish as a diplomat, but at the very least, I hope she raises awareness.

Note by Celebitchy: Here are photos from the Stand Up 2 Cancer telethon held on Friday featuring Fran Drescher, Christina Ricci, Sharon Osbourne, Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres, Marissa Jaret Winokur, John Krasinski, Forest Whitaker, Sheryl Crow, Charles Barkley, Evan Handler, Abigail Breslin, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner, Mandy Moore, Salma Hayek, Josh Brolin, Casey Affleck, and Kate Bosworth. Credit: WENN.

Rosie O’Donnell may be off the talk show circuit, but the outspoken and controversial comedian isn’t going to stop appearing on television any time soon. Fran Drescher, the former star of long running sitcom “The Nanny,” told In Touch that she’s in development for a new sitcom with Rosie O’Donnell called “The New Thirty.”

Will Fran Drescher and Rosie O’Donnell be the next comedy dream team? “We’re in development for a new sitcom called ‘The New Thirty,’” Fran told In Touch at a Friar’s club lunch honoring her work with her Cancer Schmancer nonprofit organization. “It’s basically about middle-aged women on the verge of a midlife crisi. We play old high school friends – who live in the same building in Manhattan – who are living very different lives…. I love Rosie and I’ve known her for many, many years,” says Fran.

[From In Touch, print edition, June 2, 2008]

Fran has an very distinct voice that a lot of people find annoying in large doses, but she’s also funny and you could see a sitcom with Rosie working. Rosie is a talented comedic actress and a sitcom might be a decent way for her to get back in the public’s good graces – As long as she’s reading someone else’s lines and doesn’t say anything offensive.

Rosie most recently starred in a revival of in “No, No Nanette” for four days, from May 8 to May 12, on Broadway, which received mixed reviews. Critics praised her comedic timing and tap dancing skills but some said the show was a little Wikipedia describes it as “a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all women’s cancers be diagnosed while in Stage 1, the most curable stage.” Drescher was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2000, but it was caught at stage 1 and she did not have to have chemotherapy.

Rosie described their upcoming sitcom as a “Fun, happy family comedy” in a video entry on her blog, but has provided no further information about it. You may have heard this before as the story has been out for a while, but it was definitely news to me.