“I was not going to survive much longer if I stayed in that marriage,” Sigler said of her relationship with Abraxas “AJ” Discala.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler fantasized about own death during ‘toxic’ first marriage: ‘It was a cry for help’

"I was not going to survive much longer if I stayed in that marriage," Sigler said of her relationship with Abraxas "AJ" Discala.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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April 22, 2026 12:06 p.m. ET

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Jamie-Lynn Sigler and AJ Discala in 2005. Credit:

Billy Farrell/Patrick McMullan via Getty

- Jamie-Lynn Sigler is opening up about her "toxic" marriage to AJ Discala in her new memoir.

- At one point, the *Sopranos* star recounts fantasizing about her own death.

- "I was not going to survive much longer if I stayed in that marriage," Sigler recounts of the relationship, which ended in divorce after three years.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler is done hiding the messy parts of life.

In the decade since the *Sopranos* alum revealed her battle with multiple sclerosis to the world, Sigler has taken a candid approach to her public image, sharing details of her ongoing battle with the autoimmune disease and reflecting on her complicated experience with teenage stardom. Now, the actress is taking that honesty to the next level with her new book, *And So It Is….: A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope*.

The memoir sees Sigler open up about some of her lowest moments, from getting diagnosed with MS to the crumbling of her first marriage to Abraxas "AJ" Discala, who was also her manager. At one point in the book, Sigler recounts fantasizing about her own death during the marriage.

"I hadn’t relived that moment until I wrote it," the actress told *US Weekly* in an interview published Wednesday. "It wasn’t even really about suicide. It was a cry for help. I needed someone to know how terrified and overwhelmed I was."

AJ Discala and Jamie-Lynn Sigler in 2005.

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

Sigler was just 22 when she wed then-32-year-old Discala, her former money manager, in 2003. The marriage, which Sigler now describes as "disastrous," lasted three years before the couple went their separate ways — but the relationship's impact was long-lasting for the TV star.

"A marriage at 20 is still a marriage," she explained. "I needed a lot of proof to leave. When I went through his phone, I knew something shady was going on. All women feel that way. I wanted to share that not to bash him, but for other women."

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She continued, "I felt like such a failure all the time, but I understood I was not going to survive much longer if I stayed in that marriage. I think he knew that, too."

During that period of her early 20s, Sigler was experiencing health issues later revealed as early signs of MS. At one point, the actress was in the middle of a TV shoot when she experienced a tingling sensation in her feet and, almost overnight, a temporary paralysis of her legs. It was misdiagnosed as Lyme disease at the time, but by 2002 she would learn the truth of her MS diagnosis.

Sigler, 44, pointed out that despite the red flags she may have spotted in her relationship with Discala, having a partner throughout that difficult period was critical.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler in March 2026.

Dusana Risovic/SHE Media via Getty

"I desperately needed him at that time, so I can’t be like, 'What were you thinking?' I know what I needed, and he provided a lot of that for me," she shared. "Can I look back and see a young girl who was possibly being taken advantage of? Yes, but I also don’t think that he really thought that was happening."

Sigler added, "I think we were both caught up in a ride, and I think our relationship was really toxic and complicated."

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Two decades after their split, Discala was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for orchestrating a $300 million pump-and-dump stock scheme as the CEO of the now-defunct OmniView Capital Advisors. Per federal prosecutors, he was convicted in May 2018 of artificially inflating shares of unstable stocks and then selling them off to unwitting investors before the securities crashed, rendering them nearly worthless. He was subsequently sentenced to 138 months in prison and is scheduled to be released on Feb. 17, 2032.

Sigler wed former baseball player Cutter Dykstra, son of Lenny Dykstra, in 2016. The couple have two sons.

Sigler's memoir *And So It Is*... will hit shelves on May 5.

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