Jamie-Lynn Sigler Shares James Gandolfini’s Reaction to MS Diagnosis

Jamie-Lynn Sigler Shares James Gandolfini's Emotional Reaction to Her MS Diagnosis

James Gandolfini was loyal to the family—including his fictional one.

His onscreen daughter Jamie-Lynn Sigler can attest to this, as she recently opened up about his protectiveness over her after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001 while working on The Sopranos.

In fact, from the start of their working relationship, the 45-year-old said the late actor “always was watching” her, ensuring that she was taken care of on set, having started filming the show at only 17.

“There were little just moments throughout the show where he would just be [saying], ‘You good kid? You good kid?’" Sigler recalled of the late actor on the July 9 episode of Question Everything. “And it was almost like he was laying the foundation work for me to eventually, when I was bubbling over and just needed to tell someone, [decide on] him being the place to land.”

And when she was diagnosed with MS during the show’s third season—which also coincided with turmoil in her marriage to Abraxas “A.J.” DiScala, whom she divorced in 2005—Gandolfini could tell something was off with his costar.

“He finally just pulled me aside and was like, 'Something is up,’” Sigler recounted. “And then I just unloaded all of it on him and I remember his first reaction was, 'You're just a kid.’”

The Zero Dark Thirty actor did his best to reassure her despite the challenges she faced, with Sigler adding, “He always tried to remind me like, ‘You don't have to know it all. You don't have to have it all figured out. You're so young and this is so big.’”

Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images

Although he was only her fictional dad, Sigler admitted that there were times that she had wished Gandolfini was her actual father.

“I wanted it to be real,” she continued. “I wanted the moments. And they did. They felt very real. It was, you know, part of the spark and amazingness of the show.”

And as the And So It Is… author previously revealed, Gandolfini was the only one of their castmates who was aware of her MS diagnosis.

“He was the only one who knew,” she told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live on May 5, “for a very long time.”

Keep reading to see more celebs who have shared insight into their health challenges.

For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App