Jennette McCurdy is set to release a tell-all memoir this summer detailing her life and career and the abuse she suffered at the hands of her late mother.
The actor, 29, shot to fame as a young teenager when she starred alongside Miranda Cosgrove in Nickelodeon’s iCarly, having already appeared in the likes of Malcolm In The Middle and Zoey 101.
Despite enjoying a stellar acting career, including an iCarly and Victorious spin-off show Sam and Cat alongside Ariana Grande, Jennette has in recent years and has no plans to return.
Part of the reason, she says, is because she never had an interest in the industry and it was her late mother who pushed her to be a star.
The actress is now preparing to release a memoir – titled I’m Glad My Mom Died – where she will go into the details of her difficult childhood and relationship with her mother.
She spoke to about the cover of her book, which features a half-smiling Jennette holding a pink urn bursting with confetti, and said it ‘felt to me like a good way of capturing the humour in the tragedy.’
However, she added: ‘Â I didn’t want to go as far as throwing the confetti or jumping in the air with a huge smile on my face or doing any other kind of body language / facial expression that could read as flippant.
‘Ultimately I chose a facial expression that I think reads as sincere, a little pained, and a little hopeful.’
Jennette’s mother, Debra McCurdy, died of breast cancer in 2013, having been diagnosed when the actress was just three years old.
However, as can be suggested but the title of Jennette’s memoir, the pair did not have a normal relationship, with the star revealing last year that McCurdy had performed vaginal and breast exams on her throughout her childhood, and would not allow her to shower alone until she was 17 years old.
Jennette shared difficult memories in an interview with , where she said her mother’s ‘Â emotions were so erratic that it was like walking a tightrope every day.’
At the age of six, McCurdy pushed her ‘cripplingly shy’ daughter into acting, with her career eventually providing financial support to her family, and began restricting her diet and teaching Jennette to count calories, with the actor developing anorexia and bulimia as a young teenager.
‘I know if my mom were alive, I’d still have an eating disorder,’ she told the outlet. ‘It was only distance from her that allowed me to get healthy.’
I’m Glad My Mom Died shares its name with Jennette’s one-woman show, which featured on Broadway last year.
The memoir will be published on August 9, 2022, and is currently .
