Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler Reveals She’s Had Multiple Sclerosis for 15 Years

Molly Shea
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The actress reveals she’s been struggling with MS for years. (Photo: Corbis Images)

Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler was 20 years old when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, she disclosed to People magazine this week. It’s her first time publicly discussing her illness, 15 years after first being told she had MS. "I wasn’t ready until now,“ the former Sopranos star, now 34 and newly married, told People. "You’d think that after all these years, somebody would be settled with something like this, but it’s still hard to accept."

Sigler says the disease took a backseat in her twenties, but since she’s gotten older — and giving birth to her son two years ago — she’s starting to see more symptoms. "I can’t walk for a long period of time without resting. I cannot run. No superhero roles for me,” she said. “Stairs? I can do them but they’re not the easiest. When I walk, I have to think about every single step, which is annoying and frustrating."

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Multiple Sclerosis attacks the body’s central nervous system, which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. This means that symptoms can be varied — think fatigue, pain, and vision lost — and hard to control. An estimated 400,000 Americans have MS, though some experts believe the number to be even higher. As much as research on the illness has picked up in recent years, it’s still a mysterious disease. Doctors aren’t sure what causes it, and while MS is treatable, and many patients are able to manage their symptoms for decades, there is no known cure at this time.

While acting could get exhausting, Sigler says, she hid her symptoms on set. "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.” While she says she’s tried nearly every MS medication out there, she credits her “fighting attitude” with keeping the disease from taking over her life.

Sigler isn’t the only celebrity to battle MS — Jack Osborn has opened up about being diagnosed at a young age, while Ann Romney was diagnosed at 49.

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