New bride Edelstein takes on 'Guide to Divorce'

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Lisa Edelstein, the star of Bravo's new "Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce," is in a far happier place in her personal life.

The former "House" star said she was married the day before she moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to begin working on the scripted series about a marriage dissolving.

But even her new relationship carries the tinge of divorce: Edelstein said she met her husband a short time after he and his wife split.

Despite the accompanying sadness, "we have this beautiful relationship," the actress told the TV critics' summer meeting Monday. She and artist Robert Russell married in May.

The hourlong series, which is inspired by the "Girlfriends' Guide" books by Vicki Iovine and combines comedy and drama, is steered by executive producer Marti Noxon. It's Bravo's first original scripted series and debuts in December.

Noxon had her own experience with divorce - she said she'd just received a call from her business manager that she had paid her last alimony installment - but said the show is not autobiographical.

"I wanted to write about sexual politics," including the unequal balance of power when the spouse who earns the family's money and has public visibility is the wife.

Edelstein said the show is more about relationships than divorce, including the one her character has with the husband who's apparently destined to be her ex as the series unfolds.

He's played by Paul Adelstein, with whom Edelstein said she felt an immediate connection. The two bantered about the fact it likely stemmed from their nearly identical surnames.

"We're from the same shtetl," joked Edelstein, using the Yiddish term for the small villages with large Jewish populations once found in Eastern Europe.