Politics

From Civics to ‘Cinderella’: A Q&A With Fran Drescher

Queens native Fran Drescher, best known for her starring role in the 1990s television sitcom “The Nanny,” grew up in a family where political discussions were common around the dinner table. But while the actress and women’s health advocate once aspired to enter politics herself, she now says she is “exhausted” by the election cycle.

In an interview with Alice Popovici, a freelance reporter for City & State, Drescher—who was on her way to perform in “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella”—talks about politics, her current role and the unique accent that has become her trademark. The following is an edited transcript.


City & State: Hillary Clinton just announced she’s running for president and you supported her in 2008. Do you still support her? Are you excited for the race?

Fran Drescher: Since that last election I’ve thought about things through a different lens. I like Hillary and I think, on a domestic level, she would be maybe more engaged in things that concerned women and girls, for example. But on a global level I think that all of these politicians are in servitude to the military-academic-industrial triangle. As long as war is profitable there will never be peace, and as long as sickness is profitable there will never be cures, and as long as incarceration is profitable there will always be crime. So I’d like to see a politician step up to the plate and actually say why things never change, and this is why.

C&S: You have also talked about wanting to be a U.S. senator. Is that still a goal you want to pursue? Would you consider running for any other office?

FD: You know the interesting thing is, my district (Congressman Henry Waxman of California) stepped down. I could have run for his seat. Now, my state senator is stepping down—(Barbara) Boxer—and I could, if I wanted to, pursue that. But I’m on the fence, because right now I feel exhausted by all the bullshit, and I’m not sure it’s the best path to change. It’s a very broken system—they spend three-quarters of their time raising money for their next election. They are very clever, and every election there’s a new hot topic designed to divide the nation.

C&S: Is there a hot topic you’ve picked up on this election cycle?

FD: Every election there is always one, whether it be gay marriage, or this one will possibly be the immigration issue—as if that’s the real problem. Let’s blame it on the poor immigrants for why there are so many people out of work in this nation. But that’s not why. And the poor people that are out of work, it’s hard for them to see how manipulated things are, because it’s hard to see the frame when you’re in the picture.

C&S: How did growing up in Queens in the ’70s shape your political beliefs, and when did you become interested in politics?

FD: My dad and I always liked to debate at the dinner table about politics, political events, world events, current events, news. So there was that in my house growing up. I was born into a family of Democrats and working people, and I fell very much in line with all that goes with that—not that that’s a bad thing. But in recent years, very recent years, I feel that I’ve awakened to an umbrella that overshadows it all. And I feel like these elected officials are middle management beholden to very powerful mega-industries.

C&S: You are known for your accent—how would you describe it? Is it a Queens accent, is it a New York City accent?

FD: I think it’s definitely more Queens as far as any of the boroughs. Each one has a slightly different dialect and mine is Queens. Having said that, even within the borough I think that I have somewhat of a unique voice, independent of where I come from.

C&S: You try to turn negative experiences into positive experiences. Could you give some examples of how you’ve done this?

FD: Subsequent to my cancer survival and my best-selling book, “Cancer Schmancer,” I started a women’s health movement, and I’m very proud of that because, again, we are challenging the way people look at the problem. To try to solve cancer and other diseases by looking for a cure—again, this is the same problem. Because if we really looked at causation, that might cut into someone’s profit margin, and we don’t want to do that. We’d just rather keep people chronically ill with a bunch of pharmaceuticals, and make them believe that getting arthritis and Alzheimer’s and tooth decay is part of aging. I choose to look at the cause of disease and eliminate it—how’s that for a cure?

C&S: You’re on your way to “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella.” Could you tell me a little about your character?

FD: I’m the wicked stepmother—they call her “Madame” in the show. It’s a lot of fun. They’ve designed my costumes to be glamorous, they’ve allowed me to add some more humor to the part. I’ve created a character that you don’t just hate, but you love to hate—that hopefully you can’t wait till I come back out, so that you can laugh as well as being shocked, and enjoy the visual feast of the beautiful costumes.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.