Rating: 4 stars
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.
As someone who grew up watching iCarly and enjoyed the character Jennette McCurdy played as, I had no idea how much she was going through at that stage of her life. I imagined being a child star probably wasn’t easy, but the amount of pressure McCurdy faced from her mother at this stage of her development didn’t help. Her mother caused so many problems in her life that I don’t blame her for quitting acting and not wanting to be in the spotlight. Knowing her name from having watched iCarly as a child is one of the main reasons I decided to pick up her book and I’m so glad I did.
In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy talks in detail about her experiences in auditioning for roles, her relationship with her mother and food. She doesn’t leave any details out regarding how much pressure her mother put on her to audition no matter how much she didn’t enjoy it and brought up the comments her mother made about her body and how her mother helped restrict her food intake, so she’d remain skinny.
While I can’t relate to everything she’s been through and have no insight into what it’s like being a child star, I unfortunately can empathize with her in that I know what it’s like dealing with an abusive parental figure. Not going to go into too many details, but when I was going through middle school and high school, my mom was in an emotionally, mentally, and verbally abusive marriage. So I unfortunately know what its like having a parental figure you look up to treating you the way McCurdy’s mother treated her and how that can affect your life even when you’re no longer dealing with that person. Because of that, I found I was able to relate to parts of her story when it came to her relationship with her mother, especially whenever her mother was mean to her because she wouldn’t do what her mother wanted her to do. I found that relatable because my mom’s ex-husband and I especially didn’t have a great relationship once they got married and he said all sorts of things about me too. So reading that McCurdy went through the same thing through her mother was rough, but also allowed me to find something in her story I could relate to, even if the parental figures in our lives said and did different things.
I’m Glad My Mom Died is a tough but real read that I enjoyed because I enjoyed how real McCurdy is when detailing her childhood and all of her struggles in her life. Yes, a lot of what she’s talking about is rough to read, but it’s how she grew up. And you can plainly see how her mother’s influence played into the person she became as a young adult through the struggles she endures in her relationships as well as how she is when it comes to food. All of the struggles she has as a young adult are due to her mother’s influence in her life. I enjoyed getting to read her struggles because of how relatable they are and how blunt and real she is when sharing her perspective. I also appreciate that in her story, she still has work on herself to do. Not because I’m glad she’s still struggling but because I’m glad she’s honest about that she’s still working on herself. It’s nice to read that she’s aware of her issues and is working on them. It’s plain that there’s still more of her story that hasn’t been written yet, and that its due to the work she’s continuing to do on herself. Yes, it makes it seem like her book is half finished, but I feel like for her since she’s still living her life, there are some things that probably weren’t needed or that we as the reader don’t necessarily need to know. So I’m fine with not necessarily having a conclusion since its apparent to me that she still has things she’s working on.
Overall, I’m glad I decided to read her story. Its relatable because she talks about tough topics that don’t get talked about nearly enough, and she doesn’t hesitate to talk about the good, bad, and ugly when it comes to how things were in her life. I also felt like I learned from her story since I don’t have the body image issues she has when it comes to food, and I have no idea what it was like being a child star when iCarly came out. So I felt like by hearing her perspective, I learned about what its like to struggle with an eating disorder as well as how difficult it is being a child star. Overall glad to have read I’m Glad My Mom Died and recommend it to anyone who watched McCurdy on iCarly or can relate to any aspect of her story in anyway.