The world really lost one of the greatest acting talents of all time when James Gandolfini passed away back in 2013, leaving behind a legacy very few can live up to. His acting credits in masterpieces like his all-time best smash-hit mafia series The Sopranos and the thriller-crime fan-favorite flick The Drop are the perfect proof of the outstanding actor that the late legend was.
While the news of his passing away, which surfaced more than a decade ago now, left his fans around the globe devastated, the ones left even more heartbroken were the people who actually got to work with him—like Steven Van Zandt. In fact, Van Zandt’s brutal confession about how he coped with Gandolfini’s death is more than enough to tear the readers’ hearts out.
Steven Van Zandt dealt with James Gandolfini’s death in a heartbreaking way
Hollywood’s entertainment industry has lost a lot of gems, but perhaps one of the worst-hitting ones was none other than that of James Gandolfini. Thanks to his iconic lead role as the mafia boss Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, the actor had become a worldwide sensation within little to no time, and thus, his death came as nothing short of a devastating surprise.
The people he had worked with throughout his lifetime, on the other hand, had different reactions to coping with his loss. Steven Van Zandt, for one, who starred as consigliere Silvio Dante on the show, developed a pretty heartwrenching way to deal with Gandolfini’s demise amidst his ever-so-busy work schedule: He just let his mind go into denial about it all.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, he confessed the same while explaining how he is at a point in his life where he’s done fighting denial. Van Zandt pointed out how, thanks to his jam-packed work schedule, “when it comes to these kinds of things, I’ve decided, my mind has gone to a place where it’s a very useful defense mechanism called denial.” He explained:
In my head, me and Jimmy’s schedules are just not crossing at the moment and I’ll catch up to him one of these days. That happens to me a lot. You might see good friends once a year, but you start the conversation right where you left off.
This revelation is inevitably enough to tear anyone’s heart out. But what’s even more heartbreaking than this is the fact that Van Zandt continues to lead his life in denial even now.
The Sopranos actor continues to lead his life in denial even now
On the one hand, while using it as a coping mechanism at the time of Gandolfini’s death was one thing, the tragic part is that Van Zandt never stopped living in denial. In fact, he even confessed, “I try and avoid funerals if I can. I’d just rather be in denial about it, because it’s the only way to live with it, really, because they’re such big losses.”
Jimmy, I miss Jimmy every day. Frank Barsalona, one of my best friends, I miss him every day. Steve Popovich, I miss him every day. I mean, there’s so many. Your mother, your father … and after a while, the older you get, it’s happening all around you all the time, what are you going to do? You can either spend your life in grief, or you just say, just be in denial about it.
Thus, as Van Zandt continued to explain what it’s like for him to lead a life without the people who mean so much to him, “It’s like, ‘Alright, I’m just not seeing them at the moment. They’re busy. I’m busy, they’re busy.’ And that’s how I deal with it.” Well, for losses that just can’t be made up for, perhaps that is the best way to cope with it all—stay in denial.
The Sopranos can currently be streamed on Prime Video.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
