Just days after marrying baseball star Cutter Dykstra, Jamie-Lynn Sigler is opening up about her battle with multiple sclerosis.
The 34-year-old Sopranos star revealed her diagnosis in an interview with People.
"I wasn't ready until now," Sigler told the magazine about coming forward. "You'd think that after all these years, somebody would be settled with something like this, but it's still hard to accept.
"I'm at a point in my life with my son, with my new marriage, it's a new me," the mother of 2-year-old Beau continued. "I don't want to hold a secret where it feels like I have something to be ashamed of or have something to hide. It's part of me, but it's not who I am."
Though Sigler was diagnosed with MS at age 20, she experienced few symptoms at first. Over time, however, the actress says the disease, which affects the central nervous system, has "reared its ugly head."
"I can't walk for a long period of time without resting," she shared. "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 added that she would take breaks so she could sit down and rest while filming The Sopranos, in which she played Meadow Soprano. Sigler takes Tecfidera twice daily to keep symptoms at bay.
"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."
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