The cover of the premiere issue of Rosie O’Donnell’s new magazine,
Rosie, features a vibrant Fran Drescher and Rosie in a draped-arm embrace
trumpeting Drescher’s triumph over uterine cancer.
Late Friday, a memoir detailing Drescher’s battle with cancer was sold to
Warner Books executive editor Rick Horgan for around $1 million.
For the better part of the week, Warner and Simon & Schuster were
locked in a battle for world rights in an auction conducted by Artist
Management Group’s Joel Gotler, Alan Nevins and Noah Lukeman.
Drescher, 44, is the former star of the long-running television star, The
Nanny, as well as a screen actress since the 1970s, after her debut in Saturday
Night Fever. In her interview with O’Donnell, Drescher said when she
first noticed something was wrong, four different doctors told her she was
healthy. But her persistence, and the information she gathered from the Web,
was enough to convince her doctor to eventually perform a procedure that
revealed the disease. "It’s so important to do the research,"
Drescher implores of Rosie readers. "Whatever you do, don’t be
passive."
According to an executive familiar with the deal, publishers were drawn to
Drescher’s charismatic presentation of her story, which will include
personal experience, advice and her trademark humor.