Jamie Lynn Sigler says her final conversation with James Gandolfini happened in a casino, where the late The Sopranos star noticed she needed a little extra help and quietly offered it. The exchange, Sigler said, came during what she now remembers as a beautiful last moment with the man who played her on-screen father.
“We were at a casino,” Sigler said, recalling that Gandolfini asked, “Do you need help walking?” She told him, “I’m OK right now,” and said he answered, “All right, you tell me if you do.” Sigler, 44, said she felt he was proud of her in that moment: “OK, look at you. You’re still doing this. You’ve got this.”
The actress, who played Meadow Soprano on the six-season run of The Sopranos from 1999 to 2007, said Gandolfini was the only person on the cast who knew she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 20. She said he would ask how her health was doing when they were off set, at cast parties, charity events or appearances, and that he seemed to understand when she could no longer keep carrying it alone.
Sigler said she was grateful that the final time they crossed paths came after he had found what she described as a beautiful marriage to Deborah Lin and a creative space he loved. “I just remember how happy he was,” she said, adding that playing Tony Soprano was “really hard on him” and “torture in many ways,” even as he gave “every ounce” of himself to the role.
That last warm exchange now sits in sharp contrast with what came next. Gandolfini died of a heart attack in 2013 while vacationing in Italy with his family. He was 51. For Sigler, who went public with her own health struggles in 2016, the memory underscores why the people who knew her best mattered most: he saw what she was living through before the rest of the world did, and he let the moment pass without making it heavier than it was.
Sigler’s recollection comes as she promotes her upcoming book, And So It Is…: A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope. The new account answers the question hanging over any story about a final goodbye: she did not leave that casino with regret, only with gratitude for a brief exchange that still feels, to her, like a gift.