Why Jamie-Lynn Sigler kept her multiple sclerosis secret for 15 years
By Emily Yahr
January 20 at 5:07 PM
Washington Post“Sopranos” and “Entourage” star Jamie-Lynn Sigler has been keeping a secret for 15 years: She has multiple sclerosis.
The 34-year-old actress revealed her MS diagnosis to People magazine, which also featured photos from her wedding last weekend to Cutter Dykstra, who plays for the Washington Nationals’ minor league team.
Sigler was diagnosed around age 20, but hid her illness while starring as Meadow Soprano (Tony Soprano’s daughter) on HBO’s “The Sopranos”; the drama series ran from 1999 through 2007. “Sometimes all I needed was like five or 10 minutes to sit and recharge but I wouldn’t ask, because I didn’t want them to be suspicious,” Sigler said. MS is a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system, along with the brain and spine. While symptoms greatly vary, it can result in mobility issues, vision problems, muscle control and extreme fatigue.
Why did Sigler hide her diagnosis for so long? She told People that she simply wasn’t ready: “You’d think that after all these years, somebody would be settled with something like this, but it’s still hard to accept,” she said. ...
Meanwhile, Sigler said that her “Sopranos” co-star, the late James Gandolfini, was very supportive when he found out about her diagnosis. She credits her new marriage (along with her and Dykstra’s two-year-old son) with giving her the strength to come forward. “I don’t want to hold a secret where it feels like I have something to be ashamed of or have something to hide,” she told the magazine. “It’s part of me, but it’s not who I am.”
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