Jamie-Lynn Sigler thanked James Gandolfini for "making her feel safe" in a final goodbye at his funeral.

The 44-year-old actress has reflected on the July 2013 service in remembrance of her late Sopranos co-star at New City's Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, and she recalled the wave of emotions she felt at the time.

Writing in her book And So It Is... A Memoir of Acceptance And Hope, she said: "I took my time walking up to the casket, not ready to face the reality."

She knelt down next to the closed casket and placed her hands on the wood, and spoke a final message for her friend.

She recalled saying: "Thank you. Thank you for loving me, thank you for seeing me, for caring for me, and for making me feel safe."

Jamie-Lynn admitted the fact that the wake was held at an Italian restaurant "only heightened the surreal nature of" the day, given their history on The Sopranos, which ran for 66 episodes across six seasons from 1999 to 2007.

She added: "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."

And she described Gandolfini's funeral as "the true ending of The Sopranos,".

She explained: "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."

The Sopranos creator David Chase previously spoke of how said Gandolfini left him mesmerised with his "otherworldly" eyes on the set of the iconic drama.

He told a CBS News retrospective on the creation of the landmark show in honour of its 25th anniversary in 2024: "He's incredible. Well, the whole thing's about his face and about his eyes, actually. "There's something about his eyes that - it was otherworldly."

David also said the humour in the show was so prevalent he could "never" figure out whether it was a comedy or not.

He added: "I guess it's like life. I don't know."