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