Fran Drescher Says Studio Execs Had a ‘Come to Jesus Moment’ During Strikes: ‘They Didn’t See This Coming. They Didn’t See Me Coming’

variety.com:

Todd Longwell SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher was a model of fearlessness last year during the union’s 118-day strike — the longest in its history — facing down the leaders of the major studios, while maintaining membership solidarity on the picket lines.

But she’s quick to admit that the “unrelenting stress” took its toll. Two months after the union ratified its new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, her body is still paying her back for what her brain put it through.

Recently recovered from a “cold from hell” she brought back to Los Angeles from New York, she’s now dealing with a torn meniscus in her knee. “I try to be a superwoman, but sometimes my body reminds me that I’m not,” says Drescher, a multi-hyphenate actor-writer-producer-women’s health advocate (a uterine cancer survivor, she founded the nonprofit Cancer Schmancer Movement), who was previously best-known as the star of the long-running sitcom “The Nanny.” She’s much more bullish about the status of the guild, post-strike. “We went from being like third banana on a sitcom to the stars of an Oscar-winning feature film,” she notes.

The deal, worth more than $1 billion over the three years of the contract, includes a 11% bump in minimum pay during the first year, a 153% effective increase in relocation payments, increased contributions to health and pension/retirement funds, improved sexual harassment prevention, and new rules covering hair and makeup equity and even auditions. “Not really respecting [the time] that an actor [needs to] prepare had really run amuck,” says Drescher.