Jennette McCurdy rose to fame on Nickelodeon’s iCarly and its spin-off Sam And Cat. Although she was reportedly making $50,000 an episode, her home life was a very sad one filled with physical and emotional abuse.
She’s opening up about her home life in a dark comedy one-woman show called I’m glad my mom died. “The only reason I’m healthy today is because my mom isn’t here. I no longer want to forgive her.” She adds, “I have a level of contentment that I truly never thought was possible”.
She was born to Mark, a Home Depot employee, and Debbie, a stay-at-home mom. Her earliest memories were of a household fraught with disfunction. “My mom’s emotions were so erratic, it was like walking on eggshells every day.”
The week her mom died, McCurdy says, “bulima and alcohol took over my life”. She felt unconstrained by her mother for the first time and rebelled – by binge eating, binge drinking, snd experimental sex. “I was throwing up 10 times a day” from the bulimia. “Bulimia and alcohol were my escapes”.
Her instinct is to “try to find humor in everything”. Her darkly comedic show tackles mental health topics head on and she also hosts a podcast called Empty Inside. These things help her to shed her past, along with professional help from psychotherapy that focuses on shifting behavioral patterns. The therapy is called dialectical behavior therapy.
McCurdy also plans to write a memoir. Luckily she made the decision to get rid of the heaviness of her past. “I finally feel free”.
