Jamie-Lynn Sigler Says Son Beau Inspired Her to Publicly Reveal Her Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis

Jamie-Lynn Sigler is sharing how her older son Beau Kyle influenced her decision to speak out about her multiple sclerosis diagnosis.

In a new episode of PEOPLE's podcast Me Becoming Mom, the 40-year-old actress opens up about her experience as a mom with MS and how her son Beau, now 8, helped her along her journey.

"When Beau was about 2½ years old, Cutter [Dykstra] and I were actually going to be getting married finally. He was getting to an age where he was very aware of my limitations. He didn't necessarily know I had something called MS, but he knew that there were things that I could and couldn't do," explains Sigler, who was diagnosed with MS when she was 20 years old.

"And it was also getting harder to hide. I was tired of making excuses," the Sopranos star continues. "And there was a big part of me that was just wanting to step away from this business so that I wouldn't have to lie anymore."

The actress, who is also mom to 3-year-old son Jack Adam, tells host Zoë Ruderman, Head of Digital at PEOPLE, that it was "primarily" her experience with Beau that impacted her decision to reveal her diagnosis.

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"Because here I am as his mom trying to tell him that you can do anything you ever want and what makes you unique is special and you should never be ashamed of anything. I also felt so comfortable and settled with my family and my support system that I was confident enough to allow myself to be fully who I am," Sigler adds.

In March 2019, Sigler said in an emotional essay for Shondaland.com that she worries about how her condition has impacted her sons.

"MS — any chronic illness, really — becomes your whole family's disease, not just your own," she wrote, explaining that when she first learned she was pregnant with Beau she was "terrified."

"A million thoughts ran through my head. What if he runs off and I can't chase him one day?" the actress recalled. "What if I can't carry him up and down the stairs? What if he won't want to play with me because I can't be the 'fun mom' who runs on the beach with him, or chases him around the house?"

However, Sigler noted at the time that she has found her stride and is present for her sons "each and every day."

The 12-episode weekly Me Becoming Mom podcast explores the various roads to motherhood through different interviews with both celebrity guests and experts in the field. Topics on the show include IVF, adoption, surrogacy, single parenthood, same-sex couples, home births, pregnancy loss, unexpected and surprising birth stories, among other subjects.

Guests on the show include Allyson Felix, Hoda Kotb, Jillian Michaels, Shawn Johnson East and more.