Fran Drescher on Coping With Cancer
Actress and early detection advocate Fran Drescher shares advice for fellow cancer survivors, why she stopped eating meat and dreams of a new career (watch out, Washington D.C.!).
Whatever life throws at Fran Drescher, she takes in stride—and turns it into a win. After being diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2000 and undergoing a radical hysterectomy, she penned a best-selling memoir, Cancer Schmancer, and created a foundation of the same name, Cancerschmancer.org—her way of thumbing her nose at the disease and helping other women beat it.
Now the star of the ’90s sitcom The Nanny is writing, starring in and producing TVLand’s Happily Divorced, based on Fran’s real-life split from long-time collaborator Peter Marc Jacobson. (The season finale airs Wednesday, Feb. 13 at 10:30pm on TV Land.) Jacobson’s post-divorce revelation that he is gay is a major part of the show’s storyline, with sometimes poignant, often comical results. “At some point you have to stop kicking, screaming and crying, and play the hand that’s been dealt to you as courageously as you possibly can,” Fran says.
We talked to Fran, 55, about embracing her role as a 12-year cancer survivor, her new vegan diet, and how she learned to laugh again.
