Divorce attorneys in Pasadena have seen many marriages end because one spouse "discovers" they are gay. Many times, such a discovery not only leads to divorce but also feelings of distrust, bitterness and anger. Other times, though, the former couple figures out a way to remain friends. Television star Fran Drescher and her producing partner and ex-husband Peter Marc Jacobson are one famous example of how a divorce and coming out of the closet can ignite a new friendship.
Happily Divorced is Drescher's new sitcom about a woman whose husband turns out to be gay and Drescher based the show on her own experiences. She and Jacobson split after 21 years of marriage and soon after the divorce Jacobson came out of the closet.
"He had already been living a gay life away from me after we divorced, and he said, 'I don't want you to be shocked. I'm dating men,'" says Drescher in a recent interview withPeople magazine.
She says she wasn't totally surprised by this revelation.
"During our marriage he had told me he might be bisexual, but he wanted to stay married," she says. "By the time he told me, I had survived uterine cancer. Nothing could shake me."
Drescher toldIn Touch Weekly that she and her ex-husband are "the best of friends. We love each other dearly. We have even fixed each other up! I'm more successful than him, by the way."
She and Jacobson continue to work with one another as they did on her hit sitcom The Nanny. Jacobson serves as a producer on Happily Divorced. Drescher says she's proud of the shows message of growth and tolerance.
"Just as Peter and I have, the characters are learning how to reinvent their relationship and their friendship into something else that accommodates their life now," she said.