Why Fran Drescher's Marriage To Peter Marc Jacobson Was Never Going To Last
Fran Drescher rose to fame with her portrayal as the loveable Fran Fine in the hit comedy, "The Nanny," during which the show's lead characters, Fine and Max Sheffield, danced around their will-they-won't-they relationship. The two finally get married, but in real life, Drescher was wed to the show's creator, Peter Marc Jacobson. Drescher and Jacobson were high school sweethearts and met when they were just 15 years old. "She had this big Farrah Fawcett hairdo and these huge high heels on ... she was so beautiful, and I walked over to her, and I said, 'Hi, my name's Pete,' and she goes, 'Hi, I'm Fran," he recalled to AOL, imitating her nasal drawl. Her voice inspired him to create a show around Drescher, which led to the two brainstorming "The Nanny."
Drescher and Jacobson were married for 21 years before they divorced in 1999, but the two remained amicable. "[When] Peter and I split, we were never spiteful with each other. We continue to share the revenue from 'The Nanny' equally. It was our baby. I am very proud of that," she shared with Closer Weekly. Despite the peaceful ending of their marriage, two years after the divorce, Jacobson revealed something to his ex-wife that made her question their whole relationship.
Peter Marc Jacobson came out as gay
When Peter Marc Jacobson came out to Fran Drescher after their divorce, she was stunned. "I thought, did he know he was gay when I was walking down the aisle? When we had a fight in high school, and he said, 'I love you, but I'm not in love with you?' This made me wonder what we ever really know," Drescher told People. Jacobson revealed that he told his then-wife that he thought he was bisexual during their marriage but still wanted to be with her, and she admitted to ignoring potential signs. "Dressing me was a big thing; he was very into fashion. But everything could be looked at from a different perspective. You see what you want to see," the actor stated.
Despite Jacobson's devotion to their marriage, Drescher made the decision to walk away. "He begged me not to leave him, and for me, it was the hardest thing because I've always been all about putting everybody else's feelings above my own. I felt like a bird in a gilded cage," she shared (via Oprah). The former couple parted ways until Jacobson discovered that Drescher had been diagnosed with uterine cancer. "He burst into tears, and at that moment, all of the anger melted away, and all that was left was the love," Drescher revealed. Since then, the two have been closer than ever, and although they're no longer married, they still act like husband and wife.
Fran Drescher and Peter Marc Jacobson want to grow old together
After her divorce from Peter Marc Jacobson, Fran Drescher announced that she tied the knot with Shiva Ayyadurai. "Surprise!!!!! We got married!" she tweeted on September 7, 2014. Two years later, Drescher revealed that they had split. "Shiva & I R going 2 part ways. I'm grateful 4 my time w him. No regrets. Life is a journey of many chapters. Thx 4 ur support. Love is love," she shared on Instagram.
Following her brief marriage to Ayyadurai, the "Beautician and the Beast" actor told the Daily Mail that she has no plans to marry again and wants to spend the rest of her days with Jacobson. "I don't think I will ever walk up the aisle with anyone. But I do see us growing old together. We are divorced but still single because it is hard to compete with what we shared. We have been together since we were 15, and we've been through so much," she declared.
Drescher is fine being single and spending her time with whom she now calls her "gay ex-husband." On the dating world these days, she told E! News, "I tried one app once, and I found that none of the guys seemed to be honest about how they presented themselves. They weren't as successful as their profile suggested, some of them smoked." For now, Drescher is just "sticking her toe back in the water" and she has Jacobson by her side as she does so.