Fran Drescher Is 'Best Friends' With Gay Ex-Husband

Fran Drescher, 53, draws on real-life experience in her new TV Land series, Happily Divorced, which she wrote, produced and starred in. The new feel-good sitcom is about the relationship between a Los Angeles florist (Drescher) and her ex-husband (played by Best in Show's John Michael Higgins), after he announces he is gay 18 years into their marriage.

Drescher's own husband of 21 years, Peter Marc Jacobson, came out of the closet after the two had split. "He had already been living a gay life away from me after we divorced," the former Nanny star told People. Jacobson was straightforward when he opened up to Drescher. "He said, 'I don't want you to be shocked. I'm dating men.'"

Drescher was unfazed. "During our marriage he had told me he might be bisexual, but he wanted to stay married," she revealed. "By the time he told me, I had survived uterine cancer. Nothing could shake me." Now they have redefined their relationship as friends. "We're very tight," Drescher said. "We're best friends."

The duo, who were high school sweethearts at Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, Queens in the late '70s, are now working together. Happily Divorced, which premieres Wednesday on TV Land, was co-written by Jacobson.