James Gandolfini’s ex-fiancée died in freak pool accident, friend reveals

Former friend of 51-year-old reveals what happened in ‘tragic accident’

Lora Somoza, the former fiancée of The Sopranos actor James Gandolfini, reportedly died last year from slipping into a swimming pool and hitting her head.

In what Zoe Moon, a friend of the former film director called a “terrible tragedy”, Ms Somoza was found by her mother after falling into the family’s swimming pool on 5 July, 2020.

In an interview with The Sun, Ms Moon said Ms Somoza’s mother found her, and that the 51-year-old had hit her head. There was no other information available.

“Her mother found her, it was horrible. A terrible accident,” said Ms Moon, an astrologist who worked with her former friend on podcasts and radio shows.

She went on to say that Ms Somoza and Mr Gandolfini were “so in love with each other” and that separating and ending their engagement in 2005 was “such a sad thing”.

“Even at the end of their relationship, even when they broke up, they were still in love with each other,” said Ms Moon. “They just couldn’t get past a few things.”

“What they wanted going forward as a team was not the same thing, that’s really what broke them up.” she continued. “Lora was ready to have kids and James was not, so they made an intellectual decision to part ways.”

Mr Gandolfini, who died in 2013 at 51-years-old, had been engaged to Ms Somoza for two years before parting ways in 2005, and went on to wed Deborah Lin, a former model.

Ms Somoza went to look after her grandmother who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, and was training to be an addiction therapist, her family said.

Ms Somoza allegedly met Mr Gandolfini on the set of his 2001 film The Mexican, which she was an assistant director for.

Mr Gandolfini played Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, a popular TV series which aired between 199 and 2007, and has been followed by a 2021 prequel, The Many Saints of Newark.