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Lorraine discusses depression on: "The Jane Pauley Show" -- May 11, 2005 WebMD Online Interview with Lorraine -- May 3, 2005 Feeling depressed? Don't suffer Tony Soprano's "psychiatrist" talks about her own experience and a website that helps others. USA Weekend Online Article -- November 4, 2005 By Lorraine Bracco -- As told to Mary Ellin Lerner It was the late '90s, and on the outside my life was going incredibly well. I had a fantastic role on the hit HBO series "The Sopranos." My younger child was well on the road to recovery after a long illness; my eldest was graduating college with honors. I should have been thrilled, but I wasn't. I was dragging through my days as if I had a low-grade fever -- listless and joyless. "Things are going great," I told myself. "Why am I not ecstatic? I've survived hard times, but I don't feel happy. What's wrong with me?" My problem was depression, but it took me a year to face it. At first I was in denial. I told myself, "I'm OK. I'm just having a bad week, a bad month." I thought maybe I could exercise my way out of it. For a year, I stupidly suffered. I lost a whole year of joy and fun. Finally, one day I said to myself, "You know what? I don't feel right. I'm not smiling anymore. I look at my face in the mirror every day, and my face is not shining back at me radiantly. I don't want to live like this." A friend of mine who's a social worker said, "Go see a therapist, Lorraine. You're depressed. Get on medication." I knew she was right, but I was nervous about the drug treatment. What would it do to my brain? Would it dull my emotions? What if I never could act again? What if I couldn't cry at my daughter's graduation? I thought the medication would deaden my feelings, which, I discovered later, is just a myth. I also was under the mistaken impression that you had to be on the drug forever. I went to see a psychiatrist. He told me that, yes, I was depressed, and he prescribed a course of talk therapy and medication. It took about five or six weeks for the drug to kick in; it wasn't some sort of "happy" pill. I really had to make a commitment to the talk therapy, as well. But over time, the whole thing started to work. I felt much, much better. I had finally taken control. I was on the medication for a year and a half. That's all I needed. I've been off the drug for four years now, although I still see the doctor for talk therapy, and I feel great. Going through this experience really helped me play the part of Tony Soprano's psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi. When I was depressed, I spent a lot of time in the self-help section of my bookstore reading up on mental illness, and I think it added depth to my role. In fact, I guess I was so convincing that in 2001, the American Psychoanalytic Association gave me a special award for my realistic portrayal of a psychiatrist. When I accepted the prize, I spoke publicly for the first time about my experiences with depression. After that, several drug companies approached me about being a spokeswoman. Initially I said no, but then I started thinking about the enormous stigma associated with mental illness. I thought of all the fans who had come up to me wanting to talk about their depression and the embarrassment they felt about being on medication. That's what finally pushed me to team up with the Pfizer drug company to educate the public about medical treatment for depression and launch the website DepressionHelp.com. I hope my story helps people come forward and get the help they need. I want to encourage others to do what I did -- let go of the shame and the fear. The most important thing is to go to a doctor for help, whether it's medication, therapy or a combination of both. Here's my message: Don't suffer. It doesn't matter what people think. Get the help you need. I did -- and I am doing very well today. I am off my medication. I am following my dreams. My feelings are intact, and the face I see in the mirror is smiling again. Depression often accompanies other illnesses If you have a serious illness, you also may be depressed -- not the natural "blue" feelings that come with loss of function, but true clinical depression. This has everything to do with brain biochemistry and nothing to do with weakness, says women's health expert Donnica Moore, M.D. Many scientific studies reveal that depression and disease often co-exist, each making the other worse. You're at risk if you have: Alzheimer's disease, cancer, heart disease, stroke, infertility or chronic pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and low back pain. Some medications raise your risk, too. A few examples: beta blockers (for migraines and for heart problems like high blood pressure and chest pain that's caused by angina); calcium-channel blockers (for chest pain, congestive heart failure and high blood pressure); and corticosteroids (for skin disorders, allergies, asthma and lupus). The good news: Treatment can help your depression and your recovery from the co-existing disease. -- Susan T. Lennon
De-stigmatizing mental illness:
Friday, November 04, 2005 By CHRIS SAGONA of The Montclair Times Emmy Award nominee Lorraine Bracco of “The Sopranos” will be the guest speaker at the President’s Club Distinguished Lecture Series fundraiser for the Mental Health Association of Essex County on Sunday, Nov. 6. Bracco portrays Dr. Jennifer Melfi, psychiatrist for Tony Soprano on HBO’s “The Sopranos.” Mental Health Association Director of Development Steven Ryan said Bracco was selected as guest speaker because she has firsthand experience with mental illness. Bracco is the national spokesperson for Pfizer Pharmaceuti-cals and gives lectures about her experience seeking treatment and then recovering from depression. Ryan noted she was also the perfect candidate because she strives to alleviate any stigma associated with mental illness. “When you have someone who will say they experienced this on such a personal level, it becomes a very power-ful message,” said Ryan. “She effectively points out that she resisted getting treatment, and when she went public with it, people were very moved because she was so frank,” said Ryan. “This is a fundraiser, an appeal to our major donors, but Miss Bracco’s speaking, that’s really the stigma-busting aspect of it.” The association provides the community with a broad spectrum of mental health services that ranges from support groups for those who have someone in their family with mental illness to addressing teasing and bullying in schools. “I don’t think people fully understand that mental illness is exactly that, an illness,” said Ryan. “If you had breast cancer, you would go get treatment and do whatever you have to do to get well. There’s no difference between a mental and a physical illness.” One in five adults will suffer mental illness at some point, said Ryan. “It’s going to be you or a relative or a friend or a co-worker,” he said. “[The] thing is, it’s treatable. It’s easy to stereotype what mental illness looks like. But when you see Mary Jo Codey or Lorraine Bracco, it puts a different face on it.” The fundraiser will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, at Caldwell College, 8 Ryerson Ave., in the Alumni Theater. For information or to purchase tickets, call Steve Ryan at (973) 509-9777, Ext. 104.
President’s Club lecture features Bracco CALDWELL – Television actress Lorraine Bracco, who portrays psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the HBO series “The Sopranos,” will address her own experience with mental illness at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6 when the Mental Health Association of Essex County (MHAEC) hosts its annual President’s Club lecture in the Alumni Theater at Caldwell College. Bracco will describe how she misunderstood, suffered with and eventually sought treatment for depression, a mental illness that affects 17 million Americans – nearly one in 10 – every year. Bracco’s presentation for the MHAEC will emphasize the importance of recognizing and seeking professional help for emotional and mental illness, as well as the crucial role the public has in acknowledging and understanding the legitimacy of all mental diseases. Bracco’s professional resume includes Broadway, film and television and she has been nominated for many of acting’s highest honors, including an Academy Award for her role in the 1990 film “Goodfellas,” and Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards for her recurring “Sopranos” role as Dr. Melfi. Bracco recently starred as Mrs. Robinson in the Broadway adaptation of “The Graduate.” To learn more about the Mental Health Association of Essex County and the programs and services it provides, call (973) 509-9777 for free, confidential information and referral services. Ticket information for Lorraine Bracco’s lecture is available at (973) 509-9777, ext. 104.
Actress's Depression Helped Her Craft Role as Psychiatrist Jim Rosack -- June 17, 2005 -- Psychiatric News Online Article Lorraine Bracco's struggle with depression helps her gain insights on just how her character in the HBO series "The Sopranos" should act when she is treating depression. For the last five years Lorraine Bracco has played a psychiatrist on television, treating the lead character on her show for depression. Now Bracco, who plays Jennifer Melfi, M.D., on HBO's award-winning program "The Sopranos," is telling the world that she has moved into the real-world role of patient: she has suffered from depression, taken medication, and "talked, talked, and talked." "The irony hasn't escaped any of us," she said at APA's 2005 annual meeting last month in a session hosted by outgoing APA President Michelle Riba, M.D. Riba noted that it was important to have Bracco address the annual meeting "to discuss the importance of the doctor-patient relationship in overcoming the misconceptions and stigma that keep people from seeking professional care." Turning to her, Riba added, "Learning about your story is as important to us as it is to the public." "Indeed, my own experiences with depression helped me to create my character," Bracco added, noting that her yearlong depressive episode was in full swing when the pilot for the now highly acclaimed television show was shot. Lorraine Bracco: "For over a year, I felt as though life were happening around me, not with me. I was no longer experiencing any joy, any happiness." David Hathcox Bracco was initially slated by "Sopranos" creator David Chase to play the part of Tony Soprano's wife, Carmela, a role eventually taken by actress Edie Falco. However, Bracco said, she told Chase she really wanted to play Dr. Melfi and gave him only one ultimatum: "I said, `You cannot make me the psycho sex killer in the end.'" Some see the character of Dr. Melfi as a realistic portrayal of the difficulties in practicing psychiatry, including the delicacy of the patient-doctor relationship. "We've been fair and just in what a patient-doctor relationship is really like," she told hundreds of annual meeting attendees. Others may disagree on how fair or how accurate the portrayal is. In one episode, Dr. Melfi's patient, Tony Soprano, played by actor James Gandolfini, remarks, "This psychiatry shit—apparently what you're feeling is not what you're feeling, and what you're not feeling is your real agenda." That insight notwithstanding, Bracco's Melfi acknowledges on a separate occasion the frustrations of caring for patients when she reveals to a colleague, "I am drinking in between sessions." The colleague circumspectly replies, "That's very serious." Melfi, however, clarifies, "Just on the days when I see [Tony]." Bracco said she drew on her own life in fleshing out the character of Jennifer Melfi, with loneliness being a key. Both she and Melfi, she noted, have had bad marriages or failed relationships, and both have recently "lost" children to college. Bracco has also used her own struggle with depression to inform the scenes between her character and that of Tony Soprano. "We'll be going over a script, and there will be a line for me that really is more appropriate from the patient's perspective—that a psychiatrist wouldn't necessarily say. And we'll change it," she said. In reality, Bracco said, she finds it easy to separate herself from Melfi. "I hear from people all the time that they talk to their therapists about Dr. Melfi. I assure you, I don't talk to my psychiatrist about Jennifer Melfi," she told press at a briefing following the annual meeting session. Bracco recounted what she termed "a really lousy decade" that included many traumas. "For over a year, I felt as though life were happening around me, not with me. I was no longer experiencing any joy, any happiness," she said. Bracco did not realize she had depression until her life was actually "looking up." At that point, she did not consider getting help—she thought she "could handle it" on her own. She now realizes that stigma played a significant role in her delay in seeking treatment. "I did not want to see a psychiatrist," she explained, "and I did not want to take medication." She was "afraid that medication would take away her range of emotion and interfere with her ability to act. When she did gain the courage to see a psychiatrist, however, the doctor "listened to my symptoms and really took the extra steps to help me understand that medications were O.K." He helped her "understand how the medications worked, that they would not be a miracle cure, and that they would take time." As a result, Bracco continued, her expectations for medication and ensuing talk therapy were realistic. Over several weeks, she began to notice she was feeling better. After about 15 months of medication and more than two and a half years of talk therapy, Bracco feels well and continues to see her psychiatrist regularly but less frequently. She is no longer on medication, but she would not hesitate to take it again should the need arise, she emphasized. "Stigma was my greatest enemy," she concluded. "I want to help break stigma down and make mental health a public discussion. It is incredible that I'm getting the opportunity to [tell the story of my depression]. I've been told so many times that Dr. Melfi has inspired people. Now I get to try to do that." Bracco volunteered her time for the event "A Patient's Perspective" and the press briefing that followed. Her travel expenses were paid by Pfizer Inc. She has been working in partnership with Pfizer in its consumer education campaign titled "Why Live With Depression?," launched in March.
Chairman's speech to the Conference of Senior Hospital Medical Staff 2005 - Dr Paul MillerThe British Medical Association -- 8 June 2005 Excerpt about Lorraine's appearance at this conference (see item below for details): In closing, why do these policies probably not threaten us as much as they do patients? Because patients still rate NHS doctors as the most trusted of all professions. They know that when they are sick, they can count on us. Just last month I had the privilege of listening to Lorraine Bracco, the actress who plays Dr Melfi in The Sopranos, talking about her experience as a patient. Her wonderful account of the impact on her life of the care she received from her doctors was truly uplifting. Politicians talk of “patient choice”. We must never let them forget that across the world and throughout the years ... Click on the
link above to read the entire article The 2005 American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting kicks off this weekend by offering physicians leading-edge scientific information and insightful patient perspectives, including a presentation today by acclaimed actress Lorraine Bracco. Bracco will join Dr. Michelle Riba, APA president, to discuss the importance of the doctor-patient relationship in overcoming misconceptions and stigmas that keep people from seeking professional care. Lorraine Bracco, acclaimed Emmy-, Golden Globe- and Academy Award-nominated actress known to millions worldwide as psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the hit HBO series, "The Sopranos" Lorraine Bracco: "A Patient's
Perspective" Press briefing immediately follows at 12:30 to 1:15 p.m. in the Communication Center Press Briefing Room, Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), Room A310, Level 3. Prior to the event press must have registered in the APA Communications Center Press Room, GWCC, Rooms A311/312, Level 3. Sydney Marcus Auditorium
People, March 21, 2005
Her Secret Struggle: The Sopranos' Lorraine
Bracco Even now, Lorraine Bracco can't quite put a finger on when her depression began. Somewhere between bursting onto the Hollywood scene with her Oscar-nominated performance in 1990's GoodFellas and landing the role of psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi on The Sopranos in 1997, she says, her life simply fell apart. "Things weren't great," she says. "I was so unhappy. But I always thought I'd get over it. I thought, 'I'm a strong woman, I can do this.' But I couldn't. It was like having to fight fires in five different places with one hose. You don't know where to go." Certainly she had her share of stresses: A bitter split from actor Harvey Keitel in 1991 sparked a vicious custody battle for their daughter Stella, now 19, during which charges arose that actor Edward James Olmos, whom she married in 1994, had fondled a 14-year-old babysitter. Then came Stella's diagnosis of systemic juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a separation from Olmos and $ 2 million in legal fees that led to bankruptcy. "But when it comes down to it, it wasn't just one problem," says Bracco, who was also raising daughter Margaux, now 25, from an earlier marriage. "It was just a [bad] decade." In 1997, Bracco, now 50, got help by seeing a psychiatrist and taking an antidepressant. But, having suffered for a year without treatment, she wishes she had done it sooner. "Out of my own stupidity, I lost a year of my life," she says. To keep others from making the same mistake, Bracco approached the drug manufacturer Pfizer Inc. last year to help create a Web site aimed at encouraging people suffering from depression to seek help. The site, depressionhelp.com, launches March 15. Recently, Bracco met with PEOPLE correspondent Fannie Weinstein and spoke publicly for the first time about her struggle with depression. "Millions are suffering. I don't want them to be ashamed." Depression is very insidious, a creepy-crawly thing. From about 1991, everything in my life just seemed to feed it. Stella got sick, and there were weeks of tests: spinal taps, bone marrow, blood tests. I felt helpless. Hopeless. Then, separating from Eddie was a huge decision. I initiated it, but it was heartbreaking--another relationship that didn't work out. Meanwhile the custody battle lasted more than five years. None of us walked away unscathed. Before then, I'd been very successful, gotten great roles. All of a sudden--zippo. I was so bogged down with problems, nobody was going to offer me a starring role in their $ 75 million movie. And not having money to pay the mortgage is not a fun situation. It was very stressful. I had food on the table and a roof over our heads but all the extras had to be cut out for years. I felt like a loser. My friend John, who's a social worker, said, "Lorraine, I think you should see somebody. I think maybe you need to go on medication." But I wasn't about to "see somebody." Sure, you break your arm, you go to an orthopedic surgeon. You have cancer, you go to an oncologist. But a shrink? Oh, my God! The stigma! Nobody in my immediate family ever went to a shrink. I was like, "I'll get over it." By 1997, even after Stella was in remission and I'd been offered The Sopranos, things still felt joyless. From walking the dog to watching the girls' favorite TV show with them, I went through everything mindlessly. I can't say I never thought of suicide. But would I have gone from thinking to doing? No. Did I want to jump off the Empire State Building? No. Did I feel every other option was expired? Yes. And it wasn't affecting just me. My daughters were fed, they went to school, but they didn't have the best of me. I did discuss it with friends--I'm a sharer. But the depression was bigger than that. Friends are great, but they're not doctors, and sometimes you need a little extra help. Here I'd been cast as a psychiatrist on The Sopranos, and I realized it was time to see one. Later that year, I went to see a psychiatrist who confirmed that I was depressed and prescribed an antidepressant. The night before I saw him, I wrote down a million questions: Am I doing the right thing? Is there something else I'm not owning up to? My gut knew I was on the right track, but now I worried that medication would take away my emotions and make me a zombie. What if I had to stay on it forever? I'm an actor; I need my emotions! The medication isn't a happy pill. It takes five or six weeks to kick in. But week by week things started getting easier. I was able to do a huge spring cleaning. My problems weren't owning me anymore. And, despite my worries, the medication didn't affect my acting abilities. I realized I wasn't going to change, I was just going to be a better me. Everyone could see that I was lighter, that it was easier for me to deal with whatever was coming at me. If anybody asked, I told them I was on medication. I was so happy and so grateful that I didn't care if people knew. After about 18 months, I talked to my doctor and we agreed I could stop taking the antidepressant. I never had an "aha!" moment. I just didn't feel I was drowning in every problem. Last September, Stella left for college. I was so anxious I was thinking, "Something's wrong with me. I think I need to go back on that medication." Once I realized it was separation anxiety, I was able to kick it in a couple of weeks. I was proud of myself. Today, I feel so blessed. I have two great kids. I'm working. I've got a great new guy in my life. Harvey and I are talking. Eddie's kids, my kids, we all speak to each other. But most of all, I'm happy in my own skin. Is it perfect skin? No. But it's mine.
Sopranos Psychiatrist Gets Tough on Depression: Thursday, March 17, 2005 -- Health News "The irony isn't lost on me," actress Lorraine Bracco said with a smile over her morning coffee. Even though she plays smart, savvy psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi in the HBO hit series The Sopranos, Bracco admits she suffered through a full year of what she calls "joylessness" before seeing her own doctor for help against depression. "It was the late 1990s, I was already with The Sopranos," the Brooklyn-born actress recalled. After a divorce and custody battle, "my whole life seemed to be finally pulling itself together." "But it was as if I was living my life without any joy," said Bracco, 50, an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actress who was also nominated for an Academy Award for her work in Goodfellas. "I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, but I wasn't experiencing it. Whatever I had to do -- whether it was being interviewed, or a movie premiere, or making oatmeal for the kids in the morning -- I did it, but without any sense of fun." Finally, a friend noticed the mood change, and suggested Bracco seek professional help. "Even then I thought, 'What? My life is on the upswing!' I thought I'd exercise and yoga my way out of this -- I was going to beat it," she said. "But of course, we know now that that's impossible. Depression gets a hold on you, and the longer you wait, the harder it is to get out." That type of denial and procrastination is typical of many depressed individuals, said psychiatrist Dr. Patrice Harris, who is working with Bracco and drugmaker Pfizer Inc. on a campaign and Web site (DepressionHelp.com) that urges people to spot depressive symptoms early and seek out care. "There are lots of people out there that are saying, like Lorraine did, 'I'll just exercise this away, or think it away, or it'll just go away,'" Harris said. "There's also this misperception that depression is a moral weakness, a failing. People don't understand that it's a serious medical illness with a biological basis." As far as researchers can tell, much of the biology of depression relies on an imbalance in amounts of a specific brain chemical called serotonin. While psychotherapy can help fight depression, medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) try to re-balance serotonin levels, and thus correct the problem. SSRIs include drugs such as Celexa, Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft. (Beginning this spring, antidepressants are to begin carrying a "black box" label warning of the potential suicide risk among children and teens.) A year into her depression, Bracco made the decision to see her doctor and underwent a combination of talk therapy and Zoloft. "The talk therapy I wasn't worried about, but I had some serious misconceptions about the medication," she recalled. "I thought, 'Oh, I'm never going to feel anything anymore' -- not just as an actress, but in my everyday life." She also worried that she'd become hooked on Zoloft for life. Neither fear was realized. Like other SSRIs, Zoloft "doesn't void or dull you," she said. And about 18 months into therapy, Bracco said, she felt she could slowly wean herself off the drug. She hasn't felt the need to use it since, she said, although she said she's thankful effective medications exist. "For me, it was one of the most important decisions I made, I just regret not going for help earlier," she said. "I suffered for a year -- why?" According to Harris, specific events, such as a death in the family, divorce or trauma, can help trigger depression. "But we also don't want to lose sight of the fact that there doesn't have to be a stressor," said Harris, a practicing psychiatrist who also teaches at Emory University in Atlanta. "In fact, that's even more problematic, because I have people come into my office and say, 'I'm sad, but I don't know why.'" She said depression is distinct from just intermittent bouts of the blues. "Symptoms have to occur all day, every day, for at least two weeks," she said. Typical symptoms include an inability to sleep or sleeping too much, a loss of appetite or compulsive eating, poor concentration, frequent crying and suicidal thoughts. According to Harris, more than 34 million Americans will be diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives, "but only half of them will go get treatment." "Depression is scary to people, they're afraid and I really want to help lift that taboo," Bracco said, stressing that Zoloft is just one of many SSRIs with proven effectiveness. "If one doesn't work for you, there are others." While women often find it tough to seek help, studies show that men are even more reluctant to see a doctor about their feelings, and often turn to 'self-medicating' with alcohol or drugs, creating what Bracco called a "vicious cycle." That's why she's especially proud of her role in The Sopranos, which hinges, in part, on Dr. Melfi's psychotherapy sessions with tough-guy mob boss Tony Soprano. "He originally came in because he was having fainting spells," Bracco said. "Then we kind of broke down the walls, and I put him on medication. But we know that story has absolutely helped take away some of the stigma [about depression] for men." "A lot of psychiatrists from all over the country have told me, 'I now have a lot more men coming to see me,' " she said. In the meantime, Sopranos fans across the country may be feeling a little blue missing their weekly dose of Tony, Carmella, Paulie, Silvio and the gang. Unlike her alter ego on the show, Bracco wasn't able to give immediate relief for those symptoms, however. "We go back to work shooting the end of April," she said, "and the new episodes won't be out till the winter of '06."
Lorraine Bracco discusses her depression DERRIK J. LANG -- Associated Press March 10, 2005 NEW YORK - The irony has not escaped Lorraine Bracco. For five seasons as psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi on HBO's "The Sopranos," the actress has battled mob boss Tony Soprano's mental demons. But for a year and a half in real life, Bracco was fighting clinical depression with medication and therapy. "If you break your leg, you have it fixed," Bracco, 50, recently told The Associated Press. "If you have a toothache, you go to the dentist. When it comes to mental health, people tend to think they can just get over it." Bracco's ready to talk about her fight with depression in hopes of knocking out stigmas about antidepressants and their effects. The mother of two went to drug manufacturer Pfizer in hopes of getting the word out, which she'll do with a series of commercials and a Web site - www.depressionhelp.com - that goes live on Tuesday. "I don't blame anything or anyone," said Bracco. "I think it was lack of education about medication. I thought if I need medication, I must be really sick." Bracco acknowledges she wasn't feeling too keen after battling for custody of daughter Stella with ex-husband and actor Harvey Keitel, dealing with Stella's juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and declaring bankruptcy after splitting with actor Edward James Olmos. "I just had a lot of really big things that kept pounding me and I would let all these things rule my life instead of my dreams and wishes," said Bracco. "I was doing everything. I was being a good mommy. The laundry was done. They had food. They were driven to school and extracurricular activities, but I was joyless in it. It just became a chore for me." Looking back, Bracco said she was dealing with depression for over a decade. It wasn't until 1997, after she'd been cast in "The Sopranos," that she followed the suggestion of a friend to seek professional help. "I was very afraid to go on any kind of medication because I was afraid it was going to dull me, which is not true," said Bracco. "I think a lot of people think you'll become a zombie." But antidepressants didn't hinder Bracco's performance in "Sopranos," and she eventually escaped the depression. "I was on the medication for a year and a half and went into the doctor's office and said, `I don't really need this anymore,'" said Bracco. "I haven't been taking it for five years, six years." If the story ended here, it'd be a happy ending for Bracco. She bought a house in the Hamptons. Stella's in college. Bracco goes back to shooting the sixth season of "Sopranos" in April. And she's been dating 30-year-old former Syracuse University basketball player Jason Cipolla for almost three years. "A good relationship doesn't hurt anybody," said Bracco. "Let's be fair, younger or older. That's been very nice for me."
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