Jennette McCurdy Pulls No Punches With Her New Memoir 'I'm Glad My Mom Died'
CONTENT WARNING: This article mentions cancer and eating disorders
iCarly and Sam and Cat star Jennette McCurdy’s recently released memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, is a raw and concerning look at her growing up as a child star and the massive toll it took on her mental and physical health.
In what she’s calling therapeutic writing, McCurdy talks about the control that her mother had over not only her career but also her personal life outside of the cameras. She says that on the outside, she was this “happy-go-lucky Nickelodeon kid,” but on the inside, she was hurting, angry, and unsupported. She also described being a child star as being in an adult’s world playing an adult game but being unaware of the environment due to being a child. McCurdy believed that because of not being able to recognize what was truly going on around her, led to shortcomings in her personal development.
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McCurdy was pushed into acting by her mother, who saw her as not only a way to break free from the grueling type of life they were living, but also a vehicle for her own failed aspirations.
Her mother was first diagnosed with cancer when Jennette was 2 years old. Her late mother, gave her baths until she was a teenager and performed “cancer checks” out of fear that her daughter would also have cancer. McCurdy stated that the exams made her body “stiff with discomfort.” Her mother would go on to have a second battle with cancer, and pass away in 2013, when Jennette was in her early twenties. McCurdy’s mother also introduced her to “calorie restriction” once she hit puberty to keep her thin and looking younger so that she could book more roles intended for children. This led to multiple eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia.
In the book, she refers to a powerful figure identified only as “The Creator,” who was “mean-spirited, controlling, and terrifying,” including firing a 6-year-old for missing their lines on a rehearsal day. He pressured McCurdy into drinking alcohol when she was clearly underage. While McCurdy never reveals the identity of “The Creator,” Dan Schneider wrote, created, and produced both iCarly and Sam and Cat for Nickelodeon. Schneider left the company in 2018. In 2021, Nickelodeon’s parent company ViacomCBS launched an internal investigation over accusations of verbal abuse and misconduct toward former employees before his departure.
She was offered a $300,000 “parting gift” by Nickelodeon, as long as she did not publicly talk about her time at the studio. She turned down the money, convinced that it was hush money and not an actual gift.
In the iCarly spin-off Sam and Cat, McCurdy starred with Ariana Grande. Initially pitched as a solo show based around her iCarly character, McCurdy said that she felt blindsided by the network. She chose to internalize her jealousy towards Grande as she felt that her co-star was getting preferential treatment. Once Sam and Cat ended, Jennette took time away from acting to heal and come to terms with the trauma she experienced both on and off-screen.
he still keeps in close contact with her former co-star, Miranda Cosgrove. In an interview with Miranda Cosgrove, Cosgrove said that she was unaware that McCurdy was going through so many issues through the course of the original show. While she was invited to return to the reboot on Paramount+, McCurdy declined, as she felt it would be detrimental to her mental health and happiness.
McCurdy said that writing the book was incredibly healing, and she also said that there are some times when she actually misses her mom, contrary to the title of her book. She hopes that people find the humor behind the title. She also recognizes that if her mother were still alive, she would still be under her control, and still struggling with eating disorders.
If you or someone you love is struggling with an eating disorder, call or text The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at (800) 931-2237 or visit them at www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
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