According to Page Six, the actress writes candidly about the experience in her new memoir And So It Is…: A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope, including the final words she shared with the late actor during his 2013 funeral.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler Says James Gandolfini’s Death Brought ‘The Sopranos’ to a Real Close
In the memoir, Sigler recalls approaching Gandolfini’s casket at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York and struggling to accept the reality of the moment. The actress, who played Meadow Soprano throughout all six seasons of “The Sopranos,” writes that she knelt beside him and quietly said, “Thank you. Thank you for loving me, thank you for seeing me, for caring for me, and for making me feel safe.”
The funeral reunited much of the show’s inner circle, including Edie Falco, Steve Buscemi, Steve Schirripa and Aida Turturro, while creator David Chase delivered the eulogy. Sigler also remembers HBO arranging transportation for cast members traveling from Los Angeles, writing, “HBO had it locked down. Nobody takes care of their people better than they do.”
One of the memoir’s most vivid memories comes after the service, when friends and family gathered at an Italian restaurant. Sigler describes the atmosphere as strangely familiar. “With the buffet and the drinks flowing and the cigars lit, it felt like a scene we had done many times at Artie Bucco’s,” she writes.
For Sigler, Gandolfini’s death marked more than the loss of a co star. “This was the true ending of ‘The Sopranos,’” she writes in the book. “Jim had been the sun that we all revolved around; he had been the center. With him, the entire experience was now laid to rest.”