Fran Drescher Marries Gay Couple in New York Club
Fran Drescher, a razer blade-voiced actress who skyrocketed to fame playing the title character in hit sitcom "The Nanny," played a cleric at New York's new gay nightspot XL to officiate over a real-life same-sex marriage. Only she really is a cleric -- or at least has been ordained by the Universal Life Church, which pretty much exists so that people can "do weddings."
Drescher married Tom and Russell who have been together for more than 20 years in order to show her support for marriage equality. She was also, not incidentally, there to promote the second season of her show on TVLand, "Happily Divorced."
"Mazel tov Tom & Russell! Tom & Russell hav (sic) been together for 20 years, that's what I call dedication... What an amazing day! Tom & Russell are incredible! Feel so lucky to have been included in their big day," she wrote on her official Twitter account.
In the sitcom, Drescher, 54, plays a florist named Fran who is thrown back into the dating world after her husband, Peter, confesses he is gay after being married for nearly two decades. The show is based on the actress' real life experiences as Drescher's high school sweetheart, Peter Jacboson, told her he was gay after their marriage of 20 years ended, CNN reported.
"We met when we were 15, we married when we were 21 and divorced when we were around 41, so yes we were together for a long time," Drescher says about her relationship to Jacboson.
CNN pressed the actress about Jacboson coming out after the divorce.
"Yes and he didn't want the divorce," she said. "He was very opposed to it and was very mad at me but when he was told I had been diagnosed with cancer, one of the silver linings was that he let go of his anger and we started to rebuild our friendship."
When asked how her relationship with her ex is now, she said, "We're the best of friends. We're in a wonderful place. We're business partners, we're very close friends and you know we believe we're soul mates. Let's hope that you get more than one soul mate in life."
Drescher also joined the number of celebrities and gay rights activist who spoke out against "Growing Pains" star Kirk Cameron when he made anti-gay comments on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight." The actor said that he believes, "marriage was defined by God. Marriage is almost as old as dirt, and it was defined in the Garden between Adam and Eve. One man, one woman for life till death do you part. So I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don't think anyone else should either. So do I support the idea of gay marriage? No, I don't."
"I think that it's...unnatural. It's detrimental and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization," he added.
"I don't agree with anything that he says," Drescher told CBSNews.com. "I think that he is confusing our country, which is a country that separates church from state, with a religious dictatorship."
The inevitable micro-reality YouTube series can be viewed here. It's a lot of fun: