Jamie-Lynn Sigler Has Been Privately Battling MS for 15 Years
Jamie-Lynn Sigler is battling Multiple sclerosis (MS). (Photo: Getty Images)
Jamie-Lynn Sigler is starting her married life with a clean slate.
The Sopranos alum, who tied the knot with Cutter Dykstra over the weekend, shared more than her wedding photos in a new interview with People magazine. She revealed that she has been privately battling multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease of the central nervous system, which disrupts the flow of information within the brain, for the last 15 years.
“I wasn’t ready until now,” Sigler, who was diagnosed while playing Meadow Soprano on the HBO hit series, said of keeping her secret. “You’d think that after all these years, somebody would be settled with something like this, but it’s still hard to accept."
Sigler was diagnosed in 2001, when she was playing James Gandolfini’s daughter on The Sopranos. Here she is with the actor that year. (Photo: Getty Images)
She told the magazine that she didn’t have symptoms for “quite some time,” but that has changed over the last 10 years. She “can’t walk for a long period of time without resting” and “cannot run.” Stairs are “not the easiest.” She has to think about “every single step” she takes, which is “annoying and frustrating” to the mom of a 2-year-old son, Beau.
Sigler shared that she has tried a variety of medications to combat the incurable disease and is now taking a twice-daily pill called Tecfidera, which has kept her symptoms in check for the last six years.
"Things are manageable now,” she said. “It takes a fighting attitude to deal with all this. This disease can absolutely take over your life if you let it.” But she’s not letting it. “I’m at a point in my life with my son, with my new marriage, it’s a new me. I don’t want to hold a secret where it feels like I have something to be ashamed of or have something to hide. It’s part of me, but it’s not who I am.”
Sigler married her longtime beau, Cutter Dykstra, over the weekend. Here they are recently on the red carpet. (Photo: Getty Images)
Sigler noted that she also is going public with her battle because she doesn’t want little Beau to have to keep mommy’s secret. Or any other children who may come in the couple’s future.
“I don’t know what’s to come. But I’m excited for the first time in a long time,” she said. “I’ve got my brain and my heart and I’ve prepared myself for everything that could happen. But I’ve got an amazing husband, the best son, and I hope that we can make more babies and just keep having fun. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”
Color us #Inspired.
