Frankie Bergstein

Grew Up... as a freewheeling hippie in the 1960s.

Living... in her eclectic home in San Diego.

Visiting... the beach house the Bergsteins share with their family friends Robert and Grace Hanson. It’s her one sanctuary when her world gets turned upside down.  

Profession... art teacher. Frankie runs an art therapy program for ex-convicts – or as she calls them “rehabilitated former offenders.”

Interests... keeping up her flower-child ideals, taking drugs of the pot and peyote variety, saving the environment, watching televised spelling bees, making homemade yam lube, and trying to figure out new technology like video-blogging and tweeting.

Relationship Status... very complicated. Frankie spent 40 happy years married to her soulmate Sol and the couple raised two adopted kids named Coyote and Nwabudike (aka Bud) with a uniquely bohemian approach to life. But Frankie’s world comes crashing down around her when Sol announces he’s gay and that he’s leaving her to be with his long-time business partner Robert – the same Robert who has shared the beach house with them.

Challenge... coping with her husband’s revelation that he’s gay. Frankie’s dreams of living out her twilight years with the love of her life are suddenly gone. And to make matters even more confusing, she and Sol still share a loving bond. But Frankie’s immediate concern is learning to live with uptight Grace, who also winds up at the beach house. The two women have never seen eye to eye, but now Grace is the only one who really understands what Frankie is going through. And as Frankie explains, “We need people who know what we need, because we don’t. That’s why they’re called friends.”

Personality... free-spirited, open-minded, kind, sarcastic, messy, and totally unself-conscious.  Frankie chooses to see the world in an optimistic light whenever possible. She once explained, “I gained another pound today. But I think it’s a pound of knowledge.” She wants her life to be full of positive energy and she’s open to any new experiences that will help with that. As a child of the open-minded 1960s, she has little concern for privacy. She’s happy to chat with others about the embarrassing details of their lives or to share her own. That often leads her to clash with the very proper Grace, but they’re discovering that they need each other right now – for better or worse.