Jamie-Lynn Sigler, an actress known for her role in “The Sopranos” and “Big Sky” is returning to television after a three-year acting break. Sigler will be guest-starring on ABC’s hit series “Grey’s Anatomy” in season 22 as a doctor who has Multiple Sclerosis (MS) amid her own battle with the disease.
According to Deadline, Sigler will appear in the January 15 episode titled “Heavy on Me,” as Dr. Laura Kaplan, a urologist living with MS, who visits Grey Sloan at the request of Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) and offers Richard (James Pickens Jr.) a unique perspective on his case.
The role was created for Sigler, who has lived with MS for over two decades. Despite this, it was important to the show’s producers and to Sigler that Kaplan is not defined by this affliction.
How Sigler’s Illness Has Made Her Even Stronger
GettySigler has multiple sclerosis, a disease in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. She has relapsing multiple sclerosis, or RMS, which means that at certain times, during flare-ups, her symptoms are especially exacerbated.
Sigler was diagnosed with MS about 22 years ago, when she was 20 years old, but she wouldn’t publicly reveal her diagnosis for 15 years. Keeping quiet about what she was going through “took the joy out of (her) job.”
Luckily, Sigler’s joy for acting has returned now that she’s an advocate and is candid about life with RMS. “It has taken some thought and care and really allowed me to find my voice to be quite honest,” she told TODAY.
She has also learned how to set boundaries and advocate for herself in a way she might not have if it weren’t for her illness. “The adjustments that I make, whether that’s on set and asking for a chair to rest in between takes or scenes or parking my trailer a little closer to set,” she says make all the difference.
“It was a big moment for me, because it was the beginning of this journey of self-reflection and self-acceptance,” Sigler told PEOPLE in November 2023. “I grew up with this idea that people are only going to be attracted to you when you’re perfect, and it’s quite the opposite. MS gave me my superpower, which is vulnerability, because the more raw and real and open I am — and this has forced me to be that — the more beautiful connections are.”
Sigler’s Personal Life Outside of Acting Remains Full
Sigler has two sons, Beau Dykstra, born in 2013, and Jack Dykstra, born in 2018, with her husband, baseball player Cutter Dykstra.
While the actress has difficulty walking for long periods of time, “I can still accomplish the things that I want to do, whether it be at work or at home,” she continued to PEOPLE in 2023.
With two young boys, Sigler had to adjust to long days of after-school activities and sports as well. “It’s a lot of gear, it’s long walks. It’s hot in Texas,” she said. “We got a big wagon that I can push, that I can lean on and throw all of the stuff in. It’s figuring it out with my husband and my support system: How do we do this?”
“I don’t know if there’s enough ways that I can describe my gratitude for him,” Sigler said of Dykstra. “He’s made himself available to me in every way that I’ve needed support.”
