Jenette McCurdy’s ‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’ reveals her life’s bitter truth
Drawing in readers by her jarring title ‘I’m Glad my Mom Died,’ Jennette McCurdy, exposes what it was really like to be a Nickelodeon child star. PHOTO CREDIT: simonandschuester.com
Upon the release of her first book “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” renowned actor, producer and writer Jenette McCurdy made it clear that her writing is meant for the bestseller list.
McCurdy is most widely known as a child star of Nickelodeon’s late-2000s sitcom iCarly, where she played the tomboyish comedic relief role in the form of Sam Puckett. Now, as a published memoirist, she has painted a picture contrary to the perceived glamor of a life in Hollywood and in the television industry, stripping away the rose-colored lenses and offering a brutally honest portrayal of abuse, love and the pain associated with grieving a lost childhood.
McCurdy bares all in her recent publication, detailing what it took for her to rise to notoriety all while being forced to provide for her family – a role no six-year-old should have to take on.
From the beginning, McCurdy draws in readers, opening with the pain and dark humor, as she is at her mother’s side and tells her, optimistically, that she has reached her goal weight, 89 pounds, with the hope of rousing her mother. This doesn’t work, and as her mother’s condition rapidly deteriorates. Jeanette McCurdy is forced to face the reality of her mother’s condition – a fatal threatening cancer diagnosis.
Making a statement with the eye-catching and provocative title, Jeanette McCurdy is immediately able to convey the complex feelings of grief, love and anger associated with her mother’s death and the pain and strife it takes to separate oneself from an abusive caregiver. McCurdy emphasizes the pain of having to separate her mother’s wishes and ambitions for herself from her own personal goals.
McCurdy makes it clear that the decision to enter into an acting career wasn’t her own, like many child stars. It was a career thrust upon her at a young age, according to her book. Throughout the course of the memoir, McCurdy does an incredible job of taking on the voice of her younger self and showcases her own difficult journey, navigating through her complex feelings of grief after the death of both her best friend and her abuser.
The book delves into Jeanette McCurdy’s exploitation and abuse at the hands of her mother, and the many other individuals who profited off of her acting career, which enabled her serious eating disorder. Along with the tragedy of her upbringing, McCurdy details parts of her healing journey, verbalizing how there will always be ups and downs, but ultimately she is grateful.
Unlike her mother, she has made it through to the other side, and is able to appreciate food, life and love in a way her mother never could. In a way, McCurdy alludes to the fact that it took her mothers death in order to heal and to truly live her own life.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has a complex relationship with family, as well as those who are interested in getting a better understanding and appreciation for an individual, especially an actress who many of us would turn to for laughs in our younger years.