( CNN ) -- In `` Happily Divorced '' Fran Drescher plays Fran , a Los Angeles florist who is learning to navigate the dating scene after her husband ( named Peter ) announces he is gay after nearly 20 years of marriage . In real life , Fran was married to her high school sweetheart , Peter Jacobson , for just over two decades and after they split he told her he was gay . The show starts its second season Wednesday on TV Land and CNN caught up with the Flushing , Queens , native while she was in New York busily promoting the show . The 54-year-old actress may have a strong New Yawk accent and an , um , unique bray , but in reality she is n't anything like the TV Fran . In person she is thoughtful and articulate , a New York Times best-selling author and the visionary behind the Cancer Schmancer Movement . She also has been instrumental in getting laws passed regarding women 's health . Drescher talked to CNN about moving on after her divorce , her dating status and how much some folks are willing to pay for her laugh . CNN : So , new season of `` Happily Divorced. '' a . Fran Drescher : We 're going to go deeper into Fran being a single , middle-aged woman and what that 's about , how difficult it may be , trying to make peace with the chapters in her life she may have missed and we 'll meet Peter 's brother and we 're going to expose a part of my body in the premiere episode which has never been seen before . CNN : Which is ... ? Drescher : Well , should I tell you ? ( Laughs ) It 's a little risquÃ© . CNN : Are you using real life experiences for the second season ? Drescher : Always , I 'm the one that kind of runs the story writing room and the scripts all have origins in real emotions or actual experiences and then we kind of build a sitcom story around it . So yes everything is formed by a base of truthfulness . CNN : You were with your ex for a long time . Drescher : 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 . CNN : Peter came out to you after you had divorced . Drescher : Yes and he did n't want the divorce . 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 . CNN : Did you have any idea he was gay during the marriage ? Drescher : He was going to therapy and told me he had discovered he was bisexual but had never acted on it . He told me he wanted to be with me , he loved our life and he loved me . I just kept on going forward with him but it was a couple of years after that ( confession ) I began to feel suffocated in the relationship and I felt like I could n't find who I was or what I really wanted with him . I needed to be on my own to hear myself think . CNN : So he was very controlling . Drescher : Yes , and in hindsight I think that he realized that was a manifestation of him suppressing his true orientation . CNN : How is your relationship now ? Drescher : 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 . CNN : Are you dating anyone now ? Drescher : I 'm not currently . It 's been a couple of months since I broke up with somebody after 3Â½ years together and now I 'm back in the meat market . I do n't date while I 'm working on the show because it keeps me awfully busy , but I do rely on setups and blind dates as a means for meeting people . I certainly ca n't go on Internet dating sites , so it makes it a little more difficult , coupled with the fact that I 'm a celebrity . I wield power and have money , so my success can be threatening to a lot of men . CNN : That must be hard . Drescher : It is a handicap . I have learned the hard way that I need to now date really exclusively men that are more successful than myself . CNN : That 's a small market . Drescher : I guess it helps narrow the pool . I do n't do married men , I do n't do gay men and I need a man who 's successful in his own right . CNN : You also have a children 's book called `` Being Wendy . '' Drescher : It 's about a little girl who lives in a very provincial town called Boxville and everybody in Boxville thinks inside of the box and she just ca n't do it . Her interests are too diverse . At first she 's ostracized for being that but in the end her parents realize her specialness is unique and should be celebrated . CNN : Is that how you felt as a kid ? Drescher : I think so . I was an over-achiever and ambitious and had big dreams and I grew up in a place where mostly everybody was really not thinking beyond the town we grew up in . I wanted to travel the world and be a journalist and actress and writer and politician and kinds of things . CNN : Your laugh is really one of a kind . Drescher : I know ! Sometimes we sell my voice at charity auctions to be somebody 's answering message . I think the highest bid was around 15 or 20 thousand dollars . CNN : Is n't that amazing ? Drescher : I was told a lot when I was pursuing acting in high school that I could n't make it with that voice and the first time I met Peter , I said , 'Hiii , ' and he thought I was joking but in the end we figured out a way to monetize it and poke fun at it first so other people would feel comfortable laughing along with me .
`` Happily Divorced '' starts its second season Wednesday at 10:30 p.m . ET on TV Land . Fran Drescher : We 're going to go deeper into Fran being a single , middle-aged woman . She's divorced and she has two kids with her ex.