The Sopranos actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler has revealed she is battling multiple sclerosis (MS).
The star, who found fame as the daughter of mob boss Tony Soprano, was diagnosed when she was 20 years old, but has only just opened up about her illness.
“I wasn’t ready until now. You’d think that after all these years, somebody would be settled with something like this, but it’s still hard to accept,” she told People.
The actress, who recently married baseball star Cutter Dykstra, told the magazine that she lived symptom-free for “quite some time” but it “reared its ugly head” over the past decade.
“I can’t walk for a long period of time without resting. I cannot run. No superhero roles for me.
“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.”
She also revealed that she has covered up her illness, which affects the central nervous system, while working over the years since The Sopranos ended.
She said: “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,”
Jena says she takes a twice-daily pill 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.”
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