SHORT TAKES : Harper Put Woes in Perspective

The suicide of Joan Rivers’ husband helped Valerie Harper keep the proper perspective on life right after she was fired from her top-rated NBC sitcom, the actress says.

“The week I was fired was the same week that Joan Rivers lost her husband. I thought, ‘My God, I’m blessed.’ Think of people with real problems, who live with illness, with drive-by shootings in their neighborhoods,” Harper tells USA Weekend magazine this Sunday.

Harper, who appears opposite her old show, “The Hogan Family,” in her new show, “City,” says she had some fears about becoming a Hollywood pariah when she sued the producers of her old show following her dismissal.

“There was definitely a buzz around town: ‘Has she gone mad?’ If I’d been a young actress, if I’d been newer in this business, I might have been destroyed,” Harper says.