In an interview with the New York Times, Jennette McCurdy disclosed that she was “exploited” as a young performer on the iCarly set.
The 30-year-old performer, best known for playing Sam Puckett in the popular series, is presently promoting her new novel, which describes the assault.
I’m Glad My Mom Died, a memoir by McCurdy, details how she was urged to consume alcohol while getting her picture taken in a bikini for a Nickelodeon wardrobe fitting. At the time, she would have been a minor.
Debra McCurdy passed away from cancer in 2013. According to the Times interview, she frequently chose not to step in during such situations. Debra is said to have actually informed her daughter that “everyone wants what you have” and that exploitation was just the cost of fame.
McCurdy also claims in her autobiography that she was informed she would get her own iCarly spinoff after the series concluded in 2012. Instead, she appeared alongside Ariana Grande in Sam and Cat.
When Arianna “came whistle-toning in with enthusiasm because she had spent the previous evening playing charades at Tom Hanks’s house,” McCurdy recounts, that is the moment she “broke.”
McCurdy said that she was paid $300,000 in hush money when Sam and Cat was canceled in 2014 after only one season in order to prevent her from speaking out about her work at Nickelodeon.
An excerpt from McCurdy’s memoir, which was published by Entertainment Weekly, describes how her controlling mother tried to live vicariously through her because she was unable to pursue an acting career herself.
McCurdy remembers her mother’s response when she informed her she wanted to stop acting after she was unable to cry on cue during an audition:
“Mom’s face looks like she just ate a lemon. It contorts in a way that terrifies me. I know what’s coming next.
“‘You can’t quit!'” she sobs. ‘This was our chance! This was ouuuuur chaaaaance!’
“She bangs on the steering wheel, accidentally hitting the horn. Mascara trickles down her cheeks. She’s hysterical, like I was in the Hollywood Homicide audition.”
McCurdy, sadly, has previously discussed the “severe” physical and psychological abuse she experienced at the hands of her mother. She said in a People interview that her mother would not let McCurdy “shower alone” and would do breast and vaginal checks on her until she was 17 years old.
McCurdy started pursuing writing and directing after quitting performing in 2017, and her next biography will be released on August 9.
