Jennette McCurdy is a well-known American artist who was born on June 26, 1992, in Garden Grove, California. She was brought up in an economically lower-class family. Although her father, Mark McCurdy, had two jobs, her mother, Debra McCurdy, did not send her to any school. She had three more brothers who were also home-schooled by Debra.
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Jennette’s Early Childhood
Jennette’s mom wanted to become a star, so she wanted to fulfill her desire through her daughter’s career. Therefore, she trained Jennette McCurdy from her early childhood to become a superstar one day. At the young age of just eight years old, Jennette started her career in 2000. Her first show was on “Mad TV”, which gained popularity, and after that, she appeared in various series like Crime Scene Investigation, Lincoln Heights, Will and Grace, Zoey 101, Malcolm in the Middle, Law and Order, Medium, The Inside, and Close to Home. She earned various awards in her childhood, some of which were “Young Artist Awards,” “Teen Choice Awards,” and the Australian Kids’ Choice Awards.
Jennette’s Initial Career
Apart from being in the above shows, Jennette McCurdy was a part of various other TV shows and albums, starting in 2007 as Sam Puckett. She was nominated in 2008 for her work on “iCarl” and then again in 2009. She was nominated for a “Teen Choice Award”. In 2008, Jennette started working on her debut album, “So Close.” After that, she released another song, “Homeless Heart,” in loving memory of her deceased friend, Cody Waters, whom she met at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Cody died due to brain cancer. Her second single was released in 2011 under the name “Generation Love”.
Sam and Cat Controversy
In 2013, Jennette McCurdy was stuck in a controversy with Ariana Grande in the Nickelodeon series. This series showcases the lives of two roommates who started a babysitting business together, but due to some controversy, it was noted that Ariana was receiving more salary than Jennette. Obviously, Jennette McCurdy was disheartened by this unfair behavior, and she opted out of the “Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice awards.” She even disclosed that she was offered $300,000 for not disclosing the entire matter in public, but she refused to settle with the monetary benefit and clearly exposed Nickelodeon in an interview on entertainment pop.
Jennette McCurdy Career Transition from Acting to Writing
In 2015, she starred in the Netflix series known as “Between,” but it was not renewed for a third season. In 2016, Jennette McCurdy had an agreement with the digital production company “Canvas Media” to develop projects and utilize Jennette’s Instagram followers.
She was not satisfied with herself, so she deleted all her social media posts and vlogs on YouTube to start writing and directing in 2017. In 2018, she directed her first short film which was inspired by the death of her own mother. This film was written by herself as she wanted to express her emotions through her creativity. After that, she released three more short films, which were written and directed by her.
She also wrote many articles while she was acting, like in 2011 when she wrote a series of articles for The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and Seventeen magazine where her topics were not just generic subjects, they included sensitive issues like body shaming, corporate culture, anxiety, eating disorders, and mental health. “My mom’s fight with Cancer” was one of the most famous articles she wrote for “The Wall Street Journal” in 2011, where she describes the trauma a family faces when one person is struggling with cancer. The article also mentions the mental state and journey of the people surrounding the patient having cancer.
Jennette felt trapped for many years in her childhood. Hence, after her mother‘s death, she wrote a book called “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” where she expressed herself on a public platform for the first time. She expressed the mental health issues that she had to face due to her mother. She also posted a video on YouTube where she sings about the struggles that she has been facing for years and shares her transformational story of finding herself in quarantine. She has also started a podcast by the name of “Empty Inside” to express herself and share her experiences with the world.
The toxic relationship between Jennette and her mom
She had a very toxic and abusive relationship with her mother. After she created “I am Glad My Mom Died,” she also opened up about her past and abusive mother. She shares her story of how her mother forced her to become a superstar to financially support the family. Her mother used to bleach her hair when she was just 11 years old, and she was forced to have a calorie-restricted diet in her childhood, which led her to a disease known as anorexia, bulimia, and a lump in her breast.
She also shared that her home environment was not nurturing in many dimensions. In fact, it was abusive. Her parents used to have physical violence episodes with each other. She remembers her mother chasing her dad all around the house with a knife. After a few years, she also got to know that the person she was considering as her father was not her biological father. Her mother had been suffering from cancer for years, since the time Jennette was just two years old, due to which her mother had bipolar disorder and mental health issues.
Her mother finally died when Jennette McCurdy was 21 years old. At her mother’s deathbed, Jennette tried to save her mother by telling her that she had become even thinner because that was the only thing that would have given her happiness or saved her life.
Before her mother died, Jennette and her family had to face the worst situation possible. Her mother abused Jennette emotionally and sexually during her cancer stage. Her mother’s emotions were going in a zigzag manner. Jennette McCurdy and her brothers were made to watch their mother’s videos on cancer, to which Debra was expecting a strong reaction from her children, but as Jennette was just two years old, she could not give or understand any emotion. Her mother used to abuse and hold Jennette guilty.
Debra also performed various vaginal and breast exams on her daughter when she was just 16 or 17 years old. All this trauma led her to become an alcoholic person. Jennette McCurdy’s boyfriend was Steven, whom she had met on the sets of “Between.” After seeing Jennette McCurdy’s condition due to bulimia, he told her to get treatment or else he would leave her. Since then, Jennette started taking therapy, which helped her to cure her mental health issues. Her therapist also designed a plan to reduce her dependence on alcohol.
Jennette McCurdy has started a new life by quitting her career in acting, writing, and directing to express her emotions and mental trauma. Jennette McCurdy’s book is out now, which portrays her early career as an actor, her rise to fame from Nickelodeon shows, and her retirement from acting after her mother‘s death.