With 21 months between the fifth and much-awaited sixth season of The Sopranos, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, 24 – who plays Mafia princess Meadow Soprano – used her downtime to tackle different roles, filming two upcoming comedies and making a cameo in an episode of Will & Grace.

But it was also a period of sadness, with her two-year marriage to her manager, A.J. DiScala, 35, ending last September. That wasn’t the first challenge Sigler has had to face. When the actress, who lives in New York, started on the HBO series in 1998, she was struggling with an eating disorder, which she’s since gotten under control.

“I’ve definitely been in the public eye during years when girls go through a lot of changes,” she tells PEOPLE in its latest issue. “But I’m more confident now in the person I am.”

On suddenly being single
“To come from where you thought your life was set – that this is who you’re going to be with, that you’re going to start having children with him very shortly – for it all of a sudden to kind of all not be there, it’s scary. I met A.J. when I was 19. We started dating when I was almost 21. But from the day I met him he was the man in my life. So I basically went from being in high school and having my parents take care of me to A.J. being that caretaker.

“Now, being 24 and single again, you learn a lot about yourself. This is the time to find out what Jamie wants. Who Jamie is. But with A.J. and I there’s no hatred, there’s no anger. I still love him very much. I know he loves me. It’s just what’s best for both of us.”