EXCLUSIVE: Fran Drescher Slams Kirk Cameron, Goes Easy On Michele And Marcus Bachmann

You know, I try and stay on top of whatever is going on.

So what do you think about Chris Christie vetoing it in New Jersey, which is so close to New York City, a place that just passed it.

I think that we are at a tipping point right now, and I really think that this is a rolling stone, and once the cat’s out of the bag, you really can’t stuff it back in, and so, although this has become an issue from state to state, right now, I am fairly confident that within this decade we’re going to see a significant shift. I feel that the human experience has a diverse range to it, and I feel that this is a civil-liberties act and an opportunity for America to move outside of its comfort zone and further realize the American Dream.

Do you think Republicans will come around to this issue?

Well, I actually there are probably many, many Republicans that already are in favor of marriage equality. There are always going to be extremists, on every issue, all the time, but I think that the polls already show that many people on both sides of the party lines think that marriage equality is long overdue.

Kirk Cameron made some controversial statements on Piers Morgan’s show last Friday. Did you see that?

I don’t agree with anything that he says. I think that he has a right to say it as an American. I think that he’s confusing our country, which is a country that separates church from state, with a religious dictatorship, and that he should reexamine what it means to be an American. Being an American is not to be a hater, not to make a religion that you may practice to be an excuse for selecting a group of people and making them feel less natural.

There’s controversy about Michele Bachmann’s husband maybe being gay. Would you sympathize with her?

I think that … [long pause] … I really have no comment about that.

Marcus Bachmann ran a clinic that advocated for reparative therapy, apparently, and a lot of us in the gay community can spot that sister from a mile away.

You know, I don’t what to say. I can only speak for myself. I think that everybody has a right to live an authentic life, and to repress your orientation is a life that will be fraught with all kinds of issues that will manifest from not being honest. Shakespeare said it best, “To thine own self be true.”

You have definitely lived by that maxim. What happened when your ex-husband, who you worked with The Nanny on for so many years, decided to come out?

When something happens that you didn’t expect or didn’t plan on, you have to play the hand that’s been dealt, and take the feeling of love that you have for this person, and reinvent, take it off the shelf, and begin the process.

And now you’ve created a TV show, Happily Divorced, with a character that, like yourself, had a husband who came out of the closet. You’re marrying a gay couple of 20 years who have two children tonight—how does that feel?

Marriage equality is taking on another resonance for me, because I actually am officiating a wedding! And these people are in love, and they have family—two beautiful children. So it’s taking on an importance, it’s certainly an auspicious occasion, and I take my responsibilities very seriously. And then I feel like, as an outspoken activist for marriage equality and the recipient of Ally of Equality award from the Human Rights Campaign, I felt like this would enable to take my celebrity and leverage it for what I think is a very important issue, not just as a civil liberties issue for gay marriage, but for our nation to take this as an opportunity to grow beyond our comfort zone, and continue to mature into realizing the American Dream.

You’ve played yourself in two major television shows. What is the difference the real Fran and the Fran you play on TV?

Well, I always that all of her is in me, but not all of me is in her. None of the characters I’ve played could probably accomplish what I do in a day, get a show put together, so that the character can exist, but definitely every character I play on television is close to me, because I like to present a character that’s rich in specificity, and detail, and such a fast medium as a television sitcom, it’s really hard to do unless you really understand the person that you’re playing and where they come from and what kind of cloth she’s cut from.