AceShowbiz - Post-traumatic stress disorder was behind actress Fran Drescher's "thin" physique at the height of her success on "The Nanny".

The star was raped at gunpoint in 1985 during a home invasion and she reveals she was still working through her issues when she began shooting the hit TV sitcom in 1993.

"I'd been the victim of a violent crime about 10 years before The Nanny, and I hadn't really dealt with that," she said at New York City's The Wing recently. "I had to deal with it once I became famous and it came out, though - thank god I was in therapy! Honestly, I just loved going to work and being Fran Fine, because she was nothing but funny and light, and my life was kind of a mess. I think that was part of why I was so thin."

Fran admits she doesn't like to look at episodes of the show because they remind her of what she was going through.

"I look back at some of those episodes, and I remember what was going on behind the scenes, and it wasn't pretty," she added. "When I sold the show (in 1993) I was 142 pounds - and by the time we were in our fifth season, I was maybe 110 pounds. I was burning the candle at both ends."

Now the 60 year old, who previously beat uterine cancer, is focusing on "honouring" her body, insisting she has no desire to return to her The Nanny weight.

The show ran on TV in America until 1999.