Jamie-Lynn Sigler of The Sopranos is opening up about her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) and her family’s fight for privacy as she navigates this ongoing health battle.
In a new interview with US Weekly, Sigler discussed her decision to flee Hollywood and move to Austin, Texas, with her family amid the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago.
“We needed a change,” she said.
Upon leaving Hollywood, Sigler felt greater freedom to focus on being a wife to her husband, Cutter Dykstra, and a mom to their two boys, Beau, 12, and Jack, 8.
“When I moved here, I started using a cane once in a while because I didn’t feel like I was being watched,” she said.
Rather than being recognized for her celebrity status, Sigler now feels that she is simply “Beau and Jack’s mom at the baseball field.”
Sigler is 44-years-old and was first diagnosed with MS when she was just 20. However, she decided not to reveal her condition publicly until 2016.
Attempting to keep her diagnosis a secret took a great mental toll on her.
“I was always acting. I had no idea what authenticity felt like,” she shared. “Everything was a lie and for show. I didn’t even know who I was.”
The actress, who is currently promoting her new memoir, “And So It Is….: A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope”, recalled feeling as if she was “suffocating” as her “secrets had piled up.
“I was constantly in fight or flight and survival mode. I’m sure that it contributed to a lot of the flare-ups I experienced,” she went on.
Living out of the spotlight, Sigler explained feeling “disconnected, in the best way I’ve ever known.”
She also spoke of the bravery of fellow actress Christina Applegate, who has also discussed her battle with MS publicly.
“I give Christina all the credit for being like, ‘Yeah, we have to wear diapers sometimes,'” Sigler said. “That was always, like, God forbid anybody would have known [that].”
