Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler has been battling multiple sclerosis for nearly 15 years, she revealed in this week’s issue of People.
“The Sopranos” star and Long Island native told People that she wasn’t ready to reveal her diagnosis until now, explaining that the disease “is still hard to accept.”
Sigler, 34, was diagnosed with MS at the age of 20. She told People that she hid her illness while on the set of “The Sopranos.”
“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 revealed.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that affects one’s central nervous system. Sigler said that she can’t run, and she struggles with walking for a long period of time or climbing stairs.
Taking Tecfidera twice a day has kept her MS stable for six years, Sigler said.
“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.”
Sigler recently married her longtime fiance Cutter Dykstra. The couple has a 2-year-old son named Beau.
