Jamie Lynn-Sigler’s quotes about living with multiple sclerosis
The sopranos alum Jamie Lynn Sigler first opened up about her battle with multiple sclerosis in 2016, almost 15 years after she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease at age 20.
“I already had a great career. It was hard to accept,” Sigler said while sharing the health update during an October 2016 appearance on Fox News.
Shortly after her diagnosis, Sigler’s symptoms disappeared, only to resurface years later when she filed for divorce AJ DiScala in 2005. (The actress later moved on to Cutter Dijkstrawhom she married in 2016. The couple shares sons Beau and Jack Adam.)
After years of quietly managing the disease, Sigler found it “really empowering” to share her truth, she told Fox News. “[It] gave me a new platform and a great sense of responsibility that I now feel towards the MS community,” Sigler continued.
Keep scrolling for Sigler’s most candid quotes about living with MS:
2016
During an appearance on Fox News, Sigler spoke about wanting to be a source of comfort for others living with health issues.
“I think when people are dealing with chronic illness, you can often feel very isolated, you can feel lonely, you can feel like people don’t understand,” she said. “I wanted to be someone who says, ‘I understand, I feel you, I hear you, I’m going through what you’re going through, and I understand it.'”
2020
Despite feeling like she has “any excuse to stay in bed and say, ‘Poor me,’” Sigler noted that she lives “a full life,” like many others living with MS.
“People with MS fall in love, have children, get married, have jobs, have other problems that have nothing to do with their disease,” she said during a February interview with E! News’ Daily pop. “I think more than anything I’m trying to represent someone who is trying to be brave in the face of it and still living their life and choosing every day not to fall victim to it.”
January 2022
Sigler cleared up some misconceptions about pregnancy and MS during an interview People.
“You can absolutely carry and you can absolutely have a very healthy pregnancy and a healthy birth,” she said. “And many people actually feel better during pregnancy. And that was also the case during my first pregnancy.”
June 2022
“MS is like another job of mine and you know, sometimes I’m a really good employee and sometimes I’m not,” Sigler said during an interview with CNN. “I have been living with this disease for over 21 years and you know, sometimes for a few days [or] Some weeks you can get a little bitter and angry about the amount of focus it takes just to live.
February 2023
During an appearance on the “Bathroom Chronicles” podcast, Sigler admitted that she sometimes has trouble accepting her physical limitations.
“I feel myself leveling up and progressing as a person, but as my body [is] I don’t follow through, and it’s really – that’s my struggle now,” she shared. “You have the feeling that it should be on the same page, but that is not the case. That’s the struggle in my family, honestly we all feel it.”
Sigler added that she hasn’t given up on her goal of one day becoming more physically active.
“I think it would be really cool if my children could also witness miraculous healings and see them continue for the rest of their lives,” she said. “I have a vision that I always hold on to and try to see when I meditate or something, and I always just run with them. … It is I who run before them in their joy and happiness, because they talk about it all the time. It’s all they want.”
September 2023
The New York native shared insight into how her illness affects her ability to raise her children.
“I’m human. Are there days when I wonder, ‘Would I have been a little more patient if I wasn’t struggling physically?’ It makes you question everything in your life. It affects every area of your life,” she shared exclusively We weekly. “But I think when I put my kids to bed, I see the connection we have and I know that it remains completely unaffected, no matter what I can or cannot do physically.”
Sigler added that her two sons are polar opposites when it comes to how they handle her condition.
“My oldest son is an empath. He is very sensitive. If I ever apologize [to] him that I can’t do certain things or explain to him certain limitations that I have, he always says, ‘Oh mom, I understand, don’t worry. It’s alright. ” she said. “My little one… he’s angry about it, he doesn’t like it. He compares what I can and can’t do to other moms, and that’s fine.”
October 2023
During an interview with ForbesSigler said she initially kept her MS diagnosis a secret “out of fear and self-preservation.” She recalled running through her busy schedule as a series regular The sopranos without talking to friends or a therapist about her health problems.
“I didn’t want to be a burden. I didn’t know how to ask for help,” she explained. “I thought, ‘Hey world, I have this disease and I’ve had it for a while. What are you going to think about me now? Industry, do you still want to hire me? Friends, do you still want to hang out with me?’”