The moment I came across this ballsy and straight-to-the-point book, I knew I wanted to give it a read straight away, and it did not disappoint.
Suppose you grew up watching Jenette Mccurdy on TV when you were growing up. In that case, you will probably know about the rumors and speculation regarding how Nikolodeon treated their staff and actors, in particular Jenette. In this book, Janette goes into detail about what actually happened during her time at Nickelodeon, and how she was treated by particularly male workers higher up than her, e.g the producer of the show ICarly (Dan Schneider.)
The main storyline throughout the book follows Jenette's relationship with her mum, Debra. This is a very candid account of the abuse Jennette suffered at the hands of her narcissistic mother, and how that merged with her experience as a child actress. I don’t think you need to be familiar with her show, or even know/care about her as a person to glean lots from this book, and I think it's an important text that could even be considered historical, due to her nature as a public figure and the way her story is likely representative of a much larger population of child actors. Another thing that really shocked me whilst reading this book, is the $300,000 offer from Nickelodeon that they offered her in order to pay her off, on terms that she was not to mention any of the abuse that she had experienced whilst working with them, in which Jennette turned down- I applaud her for this and pray that Jennette makes more from this book than Nickelodeon could’ve ever offered with their hush money.
Reading about the abuse Janette went through is absolutely heart wrenching, she went through having an eating disorder throughout almost her whole childhood and teenage years, which was escalated by her mum. Her mum made sure Janette tracked her calories from the age of 11, to make sure she did not develop breasts and stayed looking as young and skinny as possible in order to book more child roles in TV and film. As one of the many kids who grew up watching and loving McCurdy on TV, discovering the truth of what was going on behind the scenes is heart-wrenching.
I was so gut-wrenched reading that Jennette felt like she and her mom were close and that she wants to do whatever she can to make her happy, even if that meant getting breast and vaginal exams from her, letting her shower her (with her brother sometimes!) until she was about eighteen years old. Even at such a young age, she felt responsible for making sure her mother's breast cancer didn't come back while she was in remission, and her mum used this against her in order to guilt trip Jennette into making her do what she wanted and pursuing her mums dreams of her becoming famous.
Jenette shares that she never even wanted to become a child actor in the first place, to be n actor was her mum's dream that was pushed upon her as her mother didn't make it in the industry. You can tell she’s more passionate about writing than acting because her writing is of a higher caliber than other celebrity memoirs that were likely ghost-written. Jennette also doesn’t shy away from talking about her experience being the main role in the kid's TV show, Sam & Cat (she hated it) and her experience with Dan Schnieder (a terrible person, obviously, whom she never refers to by name). She even dedicates a short chapter to Ariana Grande, expressing her jealousy of Ariana and how much she was favourited and given special treatment on the show.
I also found the parts of the book where Jennette talked about her teenage relationships really interesting, she speaks about her first relationship with a fellow co-star who was 30 at the time when she was just 18, and how she felt forced into sexual activity with him due to thinking she was in love, turns out he was just using her. In her second relationship, she goes into a lot more detail, sharing that he helped her through getting help for her Bullemia, but he also had issues of his own. Her boyfriend at the time was schizophrenic and went through weird spells of thinking he was Jesus Christ reincarnated, Jennette really did not get a break.
While this memoir was heartbreaking, it was also equal parts funny. There were times when I laughed reading her memories with Miranda Cosgrove, parts where I was like, "I remember this episode," and parts where I laughed out loud in shock because no way did this just happen. Her writing style was super easy to read and easy to stay engaged in, and the short chapters also helped with that as well. I also really recommend listening to the Audio book of this as it is narrated by Jannette herself, which makes it a lot more engaging and personal.
I'm not going to lie, I thought the title was a little harsh when I first heard of the book (without reading the synopsis or the actual book yet), but after finishing it, I'll say that I, too, am glad her mother died. I'm glad to see in different interviews that Jennette McCurdy is in a good place today and she's doing well! I'm also glad that she put this book out in the world because I feel like everyone needs to read this. If you haven't read this yet, what are you waiting for?
Buy the book here: I'm Glad My Mom Died: Jennette McCurdy: Amazon.co.uk: McCurdy, Jennette: 9781982185824: Books
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