“Entourage” star Jamie-Lynn Sigler opened up about her battle with MS and her emotional role in “Grey’s Anatomy,” in which she played a doctor with the same disease.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler Talks MS Diagnosis
Sigler, 44, revealed she was originally diagnosed with MS more than two decades ago, but felt she needed to keep quiet about her battle.
“To think back 25 years ago — when I was diagnosed and having to keep it a secret, thinking that if anybody knew that I had MS, that meant that I would never work again,” she told ABC News’ Kelley Carter in an interview that aired on Friday’s “Good Morning America.”
She continued, “To now be in a position where my having MS inspired a role in a storyline on a show like ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ I never would have believed you.”
Sigler first publicly announced her MS battle in 2017, telling the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, “I used to think it was better to have people not know than to have people help me. Over the years, living like that took its toll, not just physically but emotionally.”
The actress got emotional looking back on her diagnosis at age 20.
She told GMA that she wished she could tell her younger self, “You’re going to be OK and it will be better than you imagined.”
“Sometimes we don’t allow and open up for the compassion and love that we deserve, and I’m just sending that to that version of me now,” she added.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler Guest Stars on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
The “Sopranos” star kicked off her guest starring role in the long-running medical drama on Thursday, January 15.
While the role was specifically created for Sigler, her casting was first announced by Shondaland in December.
“We’re excited to welcome Jamie-Lynn Sigler to the Grey’s Anatomy family, and can’t wait to see the impact Dr. Laura Kaplan will have in the hospital,” the company shared via Instagram at the time.
Sigler portrays Dr. Laura Kaplan, a urologist living with MS who joins Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital to give fellow doctor Richard Webber a second opinion on his prostate cancer diagnosis. (James Pickens Jr., who plays Webber, was also diagnosed with prostate cancer in real life.)
“My very first take, where I do say the words that ‘I have MS,’ was very emotional for me,” Sigler said during her “Good Morning America” interview. She went on to explain that she hopes to “show somebody that is living with [MS] authentically” through her portrayal of Dr. Kaplan.
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Jamie-Lynn Sigler Bravely Reveals Why She Hid Her MS Diagnosis for More Than a Decade