Jamie-Lynn Sigler Goes Public w/ Multiple Sclerosis Battle

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Newlywed Jamie-Lynn Sigler Reveals She has been Battling MS for 15 Years: "It's Still Hard to Accept"
by Julie Jordan
1/20/16


Jamie-Lynn Sigler says she's ready to live her truth.

The actress, who just married her fiancé of almost three years, pro baseball player Cutter Dykstra, opens up to PEOPLE in this week's issue about her battle with multiple sclerosis (MS), which she was diagnosed with at 20 years old.

"I wasn't ready until now," Sigler says of revealing her illness. "You'd think that after all these years, somebody would be settled with something like this, but it's still hard to accept."





Though "The Sopranos" alum, 34, initially went symptom-free "for quite some time," the disease, which damages the central nervous system, "reared its ugly head" over the last decade.

"I can't walk for a long period of time without resting. I cannot run. No superhero roles for me," she says, laughing. "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."





Working over the years after "The Sopranos" ended meant covering up her illness. "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," she says.

While MS has no cure, Sigler has "run the gamut" with MS drugs including injections and infusions and now takes the twice-daily pill Tecfidera, which has kept her symptoms stable for the past six years.

"Things are manageable now," she adds. "It takes a fighting attitude to deal with all this. This disease can absolutely take over your life if you let it."





Crediting Dykstra, 26, and their 2-year-old son, Beau, for giving her courage and support in her daily battle, Sigler says she's ready to live openly and honestly.

"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," she tells PEOPLE. "It's part of me, but it's not who I am."

The actress also felt it was important to speak the truth for her son's benefit. "I didn't want him to get to an age where he felt like he had to keep this secret for me as well," she adds. "I wanted to be an example to him of strength and courage."





As for her recent wedding, Sigler believed walking down the aisle was like "walking into a new life."

"I don't know what's to come. But I'm excited for the first time in a long time," she says. "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."





For more of Sigler's revealing interview, including exclusive photographs from her wedding album, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.

http://www.people.com/article/jamie-...iple-sclerosis

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Jamie-Lynn Sigler Says an "Industry Professional" Advised Her to Keep MS Diagnosis a Secret
by Hilary Lewis
1/27/16


"Sopranos" alum Jamie-Lynn Sigler opened up on Wednesday's "Today" show about what it was like living with multiple sclerosis for nearly 15 years, a diagnosis she kept a secret until last week.

In her first TV interview since telling People magazine that she had the degenerative disease, Sigler told NBC's Matt Lauer that she felt "relief" after going public with her condition.

"I lived with this secret that caused me to have so many feelings of shame and guilt and fear for so many years, so I think to finally sort of feel like I'm claiming my power back and being confident with the person that I am, I feel a great weight off my shoulders," she said.





In talking about why she kept her disease a secret, Sigler said shortly after she was diagnosed, while filming HBO's "The Sopranos", an "industry professional" advised her to not tell anyone.

"I know they were looking out for me at the time but they said, 'I'm going to pretend you didn't tell me that, and I don't think you should every tell anyone that you have this disease, because people will limit you, people will judge you, and they won't hire you,'" Sigler recounted on Wednesday's "Today".

"And I took that advice. I was 20 years old, I was scared and I thought that was the best thing."





She did tell some of her "Sopranos" co-stars as well as her friends and family, who all protected her secret, but she said she wasn't ready to do so until recently.

"I was afraid, but I'm not anymore," she said.





When she was first diagnosed she said her symptoms consisted of "heaviness" and tingling in her legs and lived symptom-free for a few years until she went through a stressful divorce from her first husband.

For the past five years, though, she said her symptoms "have been hard" and consist of "weakness on my right side, little bit of coordination. High heels are hard for me…I cannot run. I can't dance the way I used to."





But she's "excited about the future," she said and hopes not only won't she be limited as an actress after revealing her condition but also that being open about her MS will make her a better actress.

"I'm excited to go back to work without feeling that I have something to hide," she said. "I feel like I'll be a better actress for it now that I can show up and really be me. And I've been working with this disease. I've been working all of these years. It was hard but I'm really looking forward to the future and I understand that some people may not want to hire me and some may …

But I have every intention of continuing my career."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...oday-ms-859783

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http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-...er-ran-w163544

Sigler blames her MS for her inability to run. “I can’t run,” she says. "It’s so hard for me. I’m not trying to sensationalize this at all, but the very last time I can remember running was the final scene of The Sopranos. That’s literally the last time I can ever remember feeling that freedom in my body.”

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Jamie-Lynn Sigler Kept MS Diagnosis a Secret Fearing she’d "Never Work Again"
by Jack Dunn
Jan. 17, 2026


Jamie-Lynn Sigler got emotional during a recent interview with ABC (via Entertainment Weekly) in which she discussed her recent guest spot on “Grey’s Anatomy” as a doctor with multiple sclerosis.

Sigler was 20 years old when she was diagnosed with MS while working on HBO's "The Sopranos". She didn’t go public with the news until 2017, when she sat down with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.




She said the role was extremely personal, given that she was diagnosed with the condition 25 years ago and felt she needed to “keep it a secret” out of fear of losing work.

She told ABC, “To think back 25 years ago — when I was diagnosed and having to keep it a secret, thinking that if anybody knew that I had MS, that meant that I would never work again — and to now be in a position where my having MS inspired a role in a storyline on a show like ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ I never would have believed you.”



Sigler said her goal with the part was to “show someone in their power” and give an authentic depiction of someone living and thriving with MS.

“My very first take, where I do say the words that ‘I have MS,’ was very emotional for me,” she said.

https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/jam...my-1236634077/

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This is very sad....... I hope she can somehow get better!!