Peter Marc Jacobson
Happily Divorced and Most of us have heard of Peter Marc Jacobson and Fran Drescher, the former husband and wife duo behind the hugely successful sitcom, The Nanny.
In many ways their story is not unlike any fairy tale; they met as young teenagers, fell in love and got married, supporting each other and building a life together as couples do. That was what you did if you were two kids in the ‘70s from Flushing, N.Y. This end differs from most tales, because we know the part after their sunset ride. Peter took some time to share with The Rage Monthly that story, his perspective on being married, what it was
like to come out at 38 and how he and Fran managed to rise above to be in the place they are now—where they started—as friends. How do you measure success? If it’s career, then check, he’s got that one, If it’s in laughter
and tears, check, they have that covered too. If it’s being able to look back at something painful, grow from it and then have a sense of humor about it, check he’s got that one covered as well.
by joel martens
Tell me about your earliest memory of Fran Drescher. I met Fran at 15 in high school actually,
she was this beautiful girl walking up the steps as I was coming down with these big giant high-heels and big Farrah Faw- cett hair—I guess I should have known that I was gay then (laughs) if that was the thing that I was looking at… I remember saying hello to her and she
said hi with that nasally voice of hers and I thought that she was totally kidding me—I realized later of course she was not. We hit it off instantly, I just thought she was so funny and unique and we became best friends immediately. We both wanted to act and joined the
drama club together (laughs), looking back I guess that was another clue! Anyway, I ended up playing piano in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, but they couldn’t find role for Fran, she wasn’t right for anything, so they actually cre- ated a role for her—you know, it’s high
school, they cheated! It was during that time that we became best friends and it really wasn’t until a year or two later that we started dating really. We continued to date, throughout high school and were inseparable the whole time. High school was ending, We were 19 I guess at that point and we both started doing com- mercials and modeling and stuff like that to support our selves. We would meet at our parents’ houses
and we would sit and watch old sitcoms, things like I Love Lucy and analyze them. I remember her mother coming into her room and saying “God if you could only make a living doing this.” Both our parents just thought that we were going to end up living with them for the rest of our lives, hanging out in the basement of their houses. (Laughs) I love your stories, you and I are similar in age, so I relate to a lot the time at which they were happening. Well I’m glad about that, it’s funny
because sometimes people have a hard time comprehending my history, they say things like, why isn’t Peter more hip and this and that? I tell them, “Well Peter didn’t come out until he was 38 years old!” He didn’t get it, he didn’t know what it was about! The first time I walked into a gay bar and this guy walked over to me said “Yo Daddy!” I looked at my friend and said, “what the heck does that mean?” My friend had to explain that it was a nice thing, to which I said, “you tell me how!” I didn’t get that and a lot of things, all I thought was, why am I here?! I imagine that a lot of the gay life was a shock for you, coming out at the age you did. It’s kind of what the show’s first season follows for the most part isn’t it? Yes, Peter (the T.V. character in Happily
Divorced) like I was, is very naïve, he was married for so much of his life, he is trying to figure it out (just as I was) and like me he is clueless to all of it. My friends would basically have to explain to me about any
JUNE 2012 | RAGE monthly 47
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