Fran Drescher Hits Premiere With Younger Boyfriend Shiva Ayyadurai—the Inventor of Email?!

49-year-old entrepreneur on the Happily Divorced star's arm copyrighted a program he called "EMAIL" 1982, but debate still rages over his true role in its invention

By Natalie Finn Oct 17, 2013 1:23 AMTags
Fran Drescher, Shiva AyyaduraiJason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Fran Drescher's new boyfriend really sends her.

The 59-year-old Happily Divorced star hit the premiere of Bridegrooms last night in Beverly Hills on the arm of tech entrepreneur Shiva Ayyadurai, who supposedly came up with the term "email" when he was in high school in the late 1970s.

While he may not have actually invented electronic messaging as some versions of his career story suggest, the 49-year-old Ayyadurai does hold the copyright to the computer program known as "EMAIL," per the Washington Post. Gizmodo then further picked apart Ayyadurai's claims in a March 2012 article that referred to him as "the man who pretended to invent email."

But his smiling date sure didn't seem to be concerned about any computer-world controversy!

The duo looked very happy on the red carpet Tuesday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences—though that might have changed after they watched the film, about a gay man whose partner of six years is killed right before they were supposed to get married and the deceased's family won't let him attend the funeral.

Drescher's TV Land sitcom, Happily Divorced, about a woman who still lives with her ex-husband after he comes out as gay, is actually based on the actress' own experience with ex Peter Mark Jacobson.

But before sitting down tor the tearjerker, at least, Drescher and Ayyadurai were said to be holding hands and stealing kisses. A witness told Us Weekly that they were "very affectionate" with each other.

Drescher, who in the past has expressed her preference for younger men, told the mag that they haven't decided on costumes yet, but apparently Halloween is going to be date night no matter what.

"I don't think we've decided yet but we know what we're doing," she said. "We've got some really good parties to go to and Iron & Wine, which is one of my favorite bands, is playing down at the Orpheum so we're gonna be doing all that."