“The Sopranos” star Lorraine Bracco is embracing dating after turning 70.
During a recent interview with AARP, the actress, who played Tony Soprano’s psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, on the hit HBO series, shared an update on her love life and revealed the qualities that she finds most attractive in a potential partner.
“I’m single, and I’m sure someone will arrive,” Bracco said.
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“I believe in love,” she continued. “What do I look for in a man? A sense of humor is extremely important. And I like a guy who’s sure of himself.”
“I’m sure of myself, so I want him to be rock steady,” Bracco added.
The “Goodfellas” star was previously married twice. Her first marriage was to French hair salon owner Daniel Guerard, whom she met while she was working as a model in Paris. The two tied the knot after she learned that she was pregnant.
“Basically, he said, ‘Well, what do you want to do?'” Bracco recalled during a 2006 interview with ABC News.
“And I said, ‘Well, where I come from, you get married, and you have the child.’ And he very happily said, ‘OK. Let’s do it,'” she remembered.
Bracco and Guerard married in 1979 and welcomed their daughter Margaux Guerard that year. However, they went on to divorce in 1982.
Following her divorce from Guerard, Bracco began dating Oscar-nominated actor Harvey Keitel. The actress told ABC News that Keitel was “very intense.”
“I was seduced,” she recalled.
Bracco and Keitel, who are parents to daughter Stella, 39, were in a relationship for 11 years. The two split in 1993 after Bracco admitted to having an affair with her “A Talent for the Game” co-star Edward James Olmos, whom she married the following year.
“He hated me for it. I disgusted him,” Bracco told ABC of confessing to Keitel about the affair. “That was the beginning of the end. And I knew that. And maybe it was my way, my very immature un-Dr. Melfi-ish way to end that relationship.”
After their romance ended, Bracco and Keitel engaged in a bitter custody battle over Stella. Bracco was eventually awarded sole custody of their daughter, but the years-long dispute left her owing $2 million in legal fees. It also took a toll on Bracco’s marriage to Olmos, and the two called it quits in 2002.
In the aftermath of the custody battle, Bracco battled depression and decided to seek professional help in 1997 after she was cast in “The Sopranos.”
“I lost a year of my life to depression, and my advice to anyone going through it is get a good doctor, get diagnosed, and know that pharmacology works — don’t be afraid of it,” Bracco told AARP. “The stigma of it stopped me at first. Stupid. And talk therapy is major. You’re worth it, you’re worth having a good day, every day.”
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“The Sopranos” creator David Chase originally envisioned Bracco taking on the role of Carmela Soprano, the wife of series lead Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), when he asked her to audition.
Bracco had previously received an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globes nod for her performance as Karen Hill, the wife of real-life mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 gangster movie “Goodfellas.”
However, Bracco turned down the part and expressed her interest in playing Dr. Melfi. During a 2020 interview with USA Today, Bracco explained why she had rejected the role of Carmela, which went to Edie Falco.
“Look, Carmela was a great character,” she said. “When I read the script, I said, ‘I don’t really want to play Carmela.’ I wanted to play Melfi, because it was different for me and not just the mob wife. David was like, ‘Really?’ He was surprised I wanted to play Melfi, because it was a much smaller role and wasn’t the lead. But I said, ‘Yeah, I could do a very good job.'”
From 1999 to 2001, Bracco received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for her performance as Melfi, as well as best actress Golden Globe Awards nods in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
In 2000, she lost the Emmy Award to her co-star Falco. Bracco was nominated for Best Supporting Actress Emmy in 2007 after she portrayed Melfi in the final season of “The Sopranos.”
During a 2006 interview with The New York Times, Bracco shared how starring on “The Sopranos” had alleviated some of the financial burden that she still carried due to the custody battle.
“The show was a blessing,” she said. “It gives me huge financial security. It meant I could think, ‘Oh, my God! I can go to work next year; I don’t really have to worry.'”
Bracco starred in the hit show throughout its six-season run from 1999 to 2007. While speaking with AARP, the Brooklyn native shared that fans still recognize her from her role on the acclaimed series.
“Last year was the 25th anniversary of ‘The Sopranos,’ and people still call out, ‘Hey, Doc!’ when they see me on the street,” she said. “I love it. It means my role as Dr. Melfi meant something to them.”
However, Bracco explained that her nostalgia over some of her most famous projects is often bittersweet after the deaths of Gandolfini and Liotta. In June 2013, Gandolfini died following a heart attack at the age of 51. Liotta passed away due to respiratory and heart problems at age 67 in May 2022.
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“When I think about [‘The Sopranos’] I don’t think about the success — I think about what I lost,” she told AARP. “I lost Jimmy.”
She continued, “And for ‘Goodfellas’ — which was 35 years ago — I lost Ray Liotta. I lost two people whom I worked with, whom I adored, whom I would jump up in the air and hug and kiss whenever I saw them. That’s what I think about.”
For her latest project, Bracco ventured into the comedy genre for the first time in her career. The actress is starring as Roberta in the upcoming Netflix movie “Nonnas.” Based on a real-life story, “Nonnas,” which is the Italian word for “grandmothers,” follows Joe Scaravella (Vince Vaughn) “who realizes he’s wasted time as a single man at a dead-end job and yearns for a second chance, so he opens a restaurant and hires a group of grandmothers as chefs,” according to a plot synopsis.
“I’ve never, ever done a comedy before, so this was big for me. I was nervous; I didn’t know where to start,” Bracco told AARP.
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She continued, “The director (Stephen Chbosky) gave me these ugly glasses, and I said: ‘I look terrible, what are you doing to me?’ He said, ‘Lorraine, trust me.’ He was hysterical, laughing behind the camera. Vince Vaughn kept saying, ‘Lorraine, you’re doing great! Just commit! Believe!’”
“It’s a character that, never in a million years, I thought I’d play,” Bracco added.
Meanwhile, Bracco told the outlet that she is enjoying her real-life role as a grandmother to her daughter Margaux’s two children.
“Being a grandmother is so much fun, because you relive a part of you that’s been dormant for a while,” she said. “We play, we read, we talk. As long as I can get down on the floor and get back up again, I’m good.”
As she enters her 70s, Bracco is honoring a promise she made to herself two decades ago.
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“I made a deal with myself when I turned 50,” she told AARP. “More fun, more fun, more fun!”
