*CONTENT WARNING: EATING DISORDERS*

I was an avid Nickelodeon kid, flipping between “Spongebob Squarepants,” “Fairly Odd Parents,” “Victorious” and most importantly “iCarly.” Since then, I have mostly forgotten about everyone in the live action Nickelodeon universe, aside from Ariana Grande, since she rose to pop music fame after quitting acting. Growing out of my Nickelodeon phase made pushing everyone to the back of my mind easy, especially Jennette McCurdy. But as I was scrolling through Twitter one day, I saw a book with the title “I’m Glad My Mom Died” above a photo of McCurdy holding an urn overflowing with confetti. After that, it was my mission to track down the book and purchase it.

McCurdy’s memoir starts when she was a young child, before she started acting, shedding light on the awful relationship her parents had and how she hated being home. I heavily related to the beginning of her memoir, since fights between parents always seem so much more catastrophic when you’re younger. McCurdy even tried to intervene in the middle of one of their fights, hoping to break it up. This is something I thought about doing when I was younger, but I always thought it wasn’t my place. It was incredibly easy to place myself in her shoes and to see through her eyes throughout the entire book. Everything was written to be so palatable, without being too overbearing or sad.

Transitioning between being a child and tween was one of the hardest things to read from McCurdy’s perspective. She had become a child actor already, but wanted to stay young in order to keep her mother happy. Her mother suggested ‘calorie restriction,’ disguising an eating disorder as a diet. It took me a while to read through the chapters where McCurdy was struggling with her ED, and it made me realize how awful the relationship between McCurdy and her mother truly was. It was truly heartbreaking to read about McCurdy’s mother. I resonated with the book so much more after reading her point of view.

Of course, the heartbreak doesn’t stop there. McCurdy hit her big break with the widely known show “iCarly.” However, she said she was emotionally abused by the show’s director, Dan Schneider. There were episodes made entirely around the fact that McCurdy had a bad relationship with her mother, with her character in “iCarly,” Sam Puckett, acting it out. There was another episode dedicated to Puckett eating a lot of junk food, while Schneider knew that McCurdy struggled with an ED. Years of emotional abuse had McCurdy numb to it all, rendering her unable to act any longer once the show, “Sam & Cat,” ended. Seeing McCurdy talking in interviews after releasing her book has felt so empowering. Knowing she was offered a lot of money to keep quiet, but instead chose to spread the truth was refreshing to hear.

Overall, McCurdy’s memoir gave so much insight into how many child actors are treated and most importantly, how she was treated her entire life. This book made me laugh with every turn of the page, but I also found myself crying without even realizing. I’ve never read an entire book so fast in my entire life, and it will go down as one of my favorite books for the rest of my life. I don’t think I’ll ever read anything like it again. And I agree, I’m glad your mom died, too.

10/10