Fran Drescher, who is most known for her role on the television series The Nanny, has opened up about what she's been up to since the show. Fran was a true delight on the show, and viewers tuned in each week just to see what she would get up to. Fran made the character her own by deploying her famous voice for the role.
In fact, Fran even tried to change her voice when she was first starting out, but no dice: When she would speak differently, she'd also lose her sense of who she was. Trying to change her voice also cost her a role in an "epic television drama" that Jane Seymour eventually won. Fran said, "They said to my manager, ‘You know, she did fine, but she talked too slow, and it’s only an 18-hour miniseries. So that was kind of the end of that."
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Fran also talked about motherhood in the interview. While she was known for portraying a nanny to three kids on TV, Fran never had children of her own and says that she sometimes wishes she had.
"I think I would have been a good mom, and sometimes I think I kind of missed out on that."
Fran was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2000 and had a full hysterectomy as part of her treatment. In 2019, she wrote, "It was strange — and kind of poetic — that my reproductive organs, of all things, had cancer. But it was also an amazing affirmation that pain finds its way to exactly the right place in the body if you don’t deal with it."
Fran was alluding to a tragic experience she had 15 years before her diagnosis. She was raped at gunpoint in her home in 1985, and she believes that not dealing with the trauma from the experience contributed to her cancer. In 2019, she wrote, "Afterward, I didn’t really get into my feelings or my vulnerabilities. I never wanted to come off as 'weak,' so I just kind of buried it and got on with life."
Fran continued to explain her belief: "Since I hadn’t been paying attention to my own vulnerabilities, my pain from the rape lodged itself in my uterus."
However, she also said that having cancer forced her to ask for help from others, which isn't always something she wanted to do: "The cancer was my opportunity to ask for help and basically become a more well-rounded person."
As a result of her surgery, she wasn't able to have kids of her own. She explained, "Suddenly I was a person who couldn’t have children. But I gave birth to a book, Cancer Schmancer, and launched a movement with the goal of transforming people from patients into medical consumers."
Fran is also still acting! Twenty-one years after The Nanny, she starred in a 2020 show: Indebted. She played a grandmother who had to move back in with her adult son. Fran says she put her own spin on the character.
"People are tuning in to see who they’re used to seeing. You want to get some heavy character actress, older woman, to be this pain in the [expletive] in the house and have this, you know, antagonistic relationship with the daughter-in-law like they did in Everybody Loves Raymond, be my guest. But that’s not me."
Fran's work also extends beyond Hollywood and starring in shows on television. She previously served as a public diplomacy envoy for then-President George W. Bush, and she was a lobbyist for the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act. She obviously has a vested interest in women's health, and she worked to contribute to understanding and knowledge in the area. She has also been the voice of striking film and television workers in 2023.
In 2019, Fran also talked about her ex-husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, whom she divorced in 1999. "We met when we were 15, and he saw 'star' written all over me. We’re a great creative team, and 'The Nanny' was our baby. We divorced the year the show ended. He discovered that he was gay. It was interesting because even though he was gay, he was the one who was a little mad at me for leaving him. Can you believe it? One of the silver linings of the cancer was that we rekindled our friendship. He’s still my soul mate."
She also shared that all of her experiences have taught her that you can't take anything for granted: "What I like about it is that I’m not dependent on anyone. I can just write my act and show up anywhere. It’s yet another outlet for me to be self-effacing and share experiences in my life through humor that can, hopefully, inspire people who may have gone through the same things to open up. Sometimes the best gifts come in the ugliest packages."
All of Fran's experiences have also added up to a life that has ultimately been rewarding for her: "Life unfolds, and you have to be fluid or you’ll get stuck. You’ve got to try to make sense out of the senseless and open yourself up to a path you never would’ve otherwise taken. I never imagined that a) I would get cancer and b) I would become a leader in a health space who helped make a law in Washington. But that was where this has brought me. It’s given me the ability to be a more well-rounded and deeper person because now I’m able to be vulnerable."
