Fran Drescher just got a star on the Walk of Fame last Tuesday, Sept. 30, which happened to be her birthday. The honor comes as a nice close to her time as president of SAG-AFTRA, a tenure that oversaw the consequential 2023 strike. But Fran is not one to be idle! As a 25-year survivor of cancer (uterine), she’s an ardent advocate through her Cancer Schmancer organization, through which she’s partnering with Laura Geller on a make-up kit for Breast Cancer Awareness this month (50% of the proceeds will go to Cancer Schmancer). Plus Fran just appeared in the Spinal Tap sequel, plus she’s in Timmy Chalamet’s upcoming ping pong movie Marty Supreme — move over Gwyneth! People Mag caught up with Fran for their My Good Evening series, where Fran shared some of her nighttime routines:
I don’t like to go to bed hungry. I’ve done that when I was trying to diet. I’d say to myself, “Just go to sleep and in the morning you’ll have a nice breakfast, and be happy because your stomach will be flat.” But I don’t like that. I like a nice dinner and I like ice cream. Alden’s is Organic and I love their cold brew coffee flavor or mint chip. I have a very small cone. That’s my treat. Early enough so that it doesn’t keep me awake. And I’ll have a glass of Brunello di Montalcino — a very special single grape wine that doesn’t give me inflammation. But only a glass.
Every night, I brush my little girl [her six-year-old white husky mix] Angel Grace’s teeth. We use a big-head toothbrush. She’s used to it because I’ve done it from the beginning. And she’s got beautiful teeth and beautiful breath.
I’m a big Uggs girl. I love my slippers. I like that they’re lined with lambswool. They just feel comfortable walking on hard floors.
Angel Grace doesn’t sleep in my room all night. She moves around. She’s a watchdog and likes to hear what’s going on at the front door. But she has a big blankie that I travel with, a plushie by Uggs, and that’s what she likes to lay on top of. She kind of sucks on it and paws at it.
I sleep in the nude. I like a delicious top sheet and duvet in a down comforter. I have wonderful pajamas, but they’re what I like to lounge in. They always come off at some point, I get too warm.
I don’t have a desire to have someone else in my bed full-time. I don’t need that anymore. It’s not that I don’t like being intimate with a man, but for me, ‘You come, you go!’ Literally. I don’t want to worry I’m disturbing another person. I want to be able to put the TV or the light on whenever I want. It’s my time to relax and find my peace.
Oh my goodness, My Guy sucks on his blankie too (or Lamb Chop, either suits) and it’s the most adorable thing ever. He’s not even sucking the whole time, it just seems to be about having the soft thing in his mouth as a comfort mechanism. Meanwhile my comfort mechanism, like Fran, is to indulge in a little ice cream at night. I’m not usually good about portion control, but I find that Trader Joe’s Hold the Cone! mini cones do the trick. Each cone is about the size of my thumb. The only wrinkle is my absolute favorite flavor is peppermint, which they only do seasonally. Luckily, that season is upon us! What else… ditto on sleeping in the nude (or at least bottomless), and I love that Fran is rekindling the great top sheet debate. Long may they reign!!
I really love all this for Fran, being someone with a soft spot in my heart for The Nanny. As I’ve mentioned before, I inexplicably earned the best math grades of my school career the year I took geometry and routinely worked through the homework problems each night with Nanny reruns playing in the background. Call it the Drescher Theorem. But it’s more than the bridging of the math-sitcom divide, or the fact that like Fran, I am pretty much always the lady in red when everybody else is wearing tan; it was the representation. Like watching Rugrats in my littler years, it meant something to recognize the characters depicted on screen. I’ll never forget one episode where Nanny Fine is trying to determine lodgings for her mother Sylvia and Grandma Yetta, when one of the Sheffield daughters innocently asks Fran why the two matriarchs couldn’t both stay with Fran. Fran replies, “No, no. The big cats can’t share a cage.” That comment has been inexpressibly valuable in navigating many a family situation of my own.
Photos credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images, Sadou Faye/Avalon, Getty
She’s delightful! I have fond memories of watching The Nanny.
I absolutely cannot, EVER, sleep nude. Must have at least knickers on. Nude swimming is great though!
Oh, and I adore sleeping alone. I sleep so much better.
Oh miss fine, still not a day over 29!
The Nanny is still one of my go to “comfort shows”. It is always in my night time rotation to fall asleep to: something that is so familiar you don’t have to “watch” every second to enjoy because you *know* every scene, all the dialogue, and all the characters so well!
I’ve always admired Fran. She is a strong, determined woman who has overcome a lot personally, and yet still maintains her effervescence and joy. I will *always* be a fan 😊.
When I am marking students work at the end of term I always binge The Nanny or Golden Girls in the background. I adore Fran and Nanny Fine’s black turtleneck, black tights, colorful skirt and big proud curly hair look has become a bit of a uniform for me.
Golden Girls and Nanny Fine? This sounds like my heaven!
I’m reading this as I eat a snack before bed because it’s been a while since dinner and I can’t sleep if I’m hungry. Ironically they’re ’banana breakfast bars’ I made the other day. Good at any time.
I also don’t wear anything to bed, I do get too hot but it’s also that I move around a lot and hate feeling all tangled in clothes.