‘Sopranos’ Star Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Robert Iler Remain ‘Best Friends’

• Jamie-Lynn Sigler said James Gandolfini would have loved her lasting friendship with Robert Iler.
• Sigler and Iler played Tony Soprano’s kids Meadow and AJ, respectively, on “The Sopranos.”
• “To be part of a show like this is lightning in a bottle,” Sigler said of her time on the HBO drama.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler thinks her “Sopranos” costar James Gandolfini would “love” her friendship with Robert Iler, who played AJ on the show.

“His main concern for Robert and I was always that we were okay financially, okay emotionally, and that we were happy,” Sigler told Insider of Gandolfini, who died in 2013 of a heart attack, during an interview abouther new “Sopranos”-inspired Super Bowl ad for Chevrolet

“I think he would also really love the fact that [Robert] and I are best friends and we’re still as close as we are, because the experience we all went through was really unique,” she added.

The actress, who played Tony’s daughter (and AJ’s older sister) Meadow, told Insider that being a part of a show like “The Sopranos”is “lightning in a bottle,” and that she and her costars are “all bonded forever.”

She also said that Gandolfini inspired her in more ways than one during their years working together on the HBO drama, which ran from 1999 to 2007.

“Jim taught me how to conduct myself on set. He taught me how to stand up for myself at work,” Sigler told Insider. “He taught me a lot about my value and he taught me a lot about asking for help, and that it was okay to do that.”

Sigler previously revealed in an interview for “Woke Up This Morning,” an oral history of the series, how Gandolfini “stepped up” to help her following her MS diagnosis, including by sending his acting coach to work with her.

The actress split from her first husband, AJ DiScala, in 2005, and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis around the same time.

But according to Sigler, Gandolfini remained a supportive presence throughout her personal struggles.

“He sent his acting coach, Susan Aston, to work with me, just to make sure I was taken care of,” Sigler said in “Woke Up This Morning.” “Little things like that, that he really just stepped up in amazing ways.”