About the Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.
In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.
Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.
Top Review
5.0 out of 5 stars I have to strongly agree with the title also, this is a mindblowing and explosively honest book!
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2022
THIS IS BY FAR, THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ ALL YEAR BY DEFAULT and I give Jennette McCurdy many props for writing this blockbuster of an read while being extremely honest about it and no sugarcoating, unapologetic, unfiltered, uncensored, no holds barred and a damn great fascinating read. ALREADY ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME!
Right from page one, I was taken on a journey about her life growing up, the difficulties with her own mother with the emotional, physical AND psychological (going as FAR on her mother being in the shower with her until she was 17 while "examing" her in the process, made me gag) with being forced to be anorexic even as an 11-year old and parts of her adulthood made me cry really hard chapter by chapter and I couldn't even put down this book even for a second. None of the abuse that she has suffered isn't okay at all, child star or not, BAR NONE.
The stuff with her writing about the Creator made me really angry and sad especially the costume tests with the bikinis as she being underage at the time while her mother encouraging it truly horrified me to the core as I totally wished that I want to punch the Creator and even more after reading as justice for Jennette.
Also, the BTS stories on the real experiences of working on "Sam & Cat" that she wrote about even nearly getting her chance to finally show her directing skills only to be taken away from her at the eleventh-hour filming on set of S&C as they shattered her dreams while Nickelodeon tried to bribe her with a $300,000 hush money settlement for not going public about her experiences working with the network as she did the right thing on turning down after them protecting a predator for so very long.
The biological father twist was a huge twist to and how her cancer-stricken mom died while lying to her for her entire life even from beyond the grave disgusted me even more that she was forced to be the perfect daughter for a mom who I might as well say, "The ULTIMATE NARCISSIST Mother from Hell that could Joan Crawford a run for her money" and the journey of actually meeting her real father.
It was like sitting down and having coffee with Jennette as I was moved by her story and her finally getting her long-needed vindication with the difficulties of being a former child star and getting to share her story to the world and telling a true statement and reason why she doesn't want to return to the show that made her a household name and I don't blame her even after reading this blockbuster of an read with the amount of anxiety that has been stuck with her for years while living in an image that she didn't fit in with and never getting to experience her childhood courtesy of her own mother.
I admire Jennette's strength and determination for having to write this book even if it isn't for everyone and the amount of hours and years of healing. I say this from one writer to another, YOU HAVE A NATURAL TALENT FOR WRITING AND I'M SO READY FOR MORE OF YOUR FUTURE WORK WITH THIS NEXT STEP.
I GIVE THIS BOOK, 11 OUT OF 10 STARS AND TO BE HONEST, 1 BILLION STARS OUT OF 5 as a huge fan of her work and so many mad props and many positive praises that I won't be able to list about my life for this book cause Jennette McCurdy is one hell of an storyteller and I totally wish that I could meet her and give her a nice huge hug with my list of congratulations on how I really, really loved this book to which I'm sure she might be reading this review. :)
After reading this, I too am strongly glad that her mother died too and I have been hyped for this book for months and it is finally here as I totally hope others can read her story despite the overwhelming demand for this book and I hope you can see things in a different light after you read this masterpiece of a book along with some of the finest cover art I have seen in quite a long time with the most UNORTHODOX but really the greatest book title I have ever seen in years of all my life growing up reading books and all of 2022.
Already planning to re-read it again and again and planning to get the audiobook to fully experience this with her narration. GET THIS BOOK ASAP AND I'm glad her mom died also.
I totally hope the success of this book will make Hollywood really wake up about former child stars being mistreated for different reasons and having their stories being told like Jennette's while putting Dan Schneider once and for all behind bars while we're at it for all the crimes he also committed toward her.
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