Jamie Lynn Sigler spent years acting alongside James Gandolfini, as the pair starred as father and daughter on the iconic series “The Sopranos.”
Now, the star has revealed the heartwarming final conversation the two shared before his passing.
Sigler Recalls Final “Beautiful Moment” Between The Co-Stars
Sigler opened up about the pair’s last conversation while promoting her new memoir, “And So It Is… A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope.”
“We were at a casino,” Sigler told US Weekly.
“He looked at me, and he was like, âDo you need help walking?â And I was like, âIâm OK right now.â He was like, âAll right, you tell me if you do.â And I was like, âI will.’”
Sigler divulged that Gandolfini was the only cast member who knew that Sigler had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Per the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MS is “an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system,” with symptoms including fatigue, mobility issues, numbness and vision impairment.
“I remember him being proud, like, âOK, look at you. Youâre still doing this. Youâve got this,’” she recalled.
“It was a beautiful moment that I am very grateful we had because his death was obviously shocking to all of us.”
Even before Sigler disclosed her condition to her TV dad, he knew something was going on.
“He had this way about him where itâs almost like he would look at me just long enough to be like, âI know you. I know somethingâs going on,” she said.
“And he would never press me. He would look at me, ‘How are you?’ And I would say, ‘Iâm good.’ And heâd just look at me and nod.”
After she confided in Gandolfini, it was a “game changer” for Sigler.
“I donât know if he knew this, but just having somebody [on set] know was a game changer. It truly shifted a lot of the energy for me there, just knowing that just somebody knows my secret and Iâm not carrying this alone.”
Sigler Remembers Gandolfini As “So Happy”
Gandolfini was only 51 years old when he suddenly passed away from a heart attack while on holidays in Italy.
“I just remember how happy he was,” Sigler recalled. “I was so happy to see him in a beautiful marriage [to Deborah Lin], in a beautiful space in his life, creatively doing things that he really loved.”
Although was famous for playing a rough and tough mafia boss, Sigler remembers the late actor as “gentle” and “caring.”
“Playing Tony Soprano was really hard on him,” she revealed. “He gave every ounce of himself, obviously, and so to see him so settled and so happy just made me so happy.”
“He was always the dad. He was our pillar. He was our rock,” she remembered. “But we also saw him struggle, and we also saw him go through really difficult times. And so it was almost like the similar moment of him and I both being like, ‘Weâre good right now. Look at us. Weâre doing good.’â
“And So It Is… A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope” is available from Tuesday, May 5.
The post Jamie Lynn Sigler Reveals How Touching Her Last Conversation Was With ‘Sopranos’ Co-Star James Gandolfini Before His Passing appeared first on EntertainmentNow.