Jennette McCurdy Says She’s Done With Acting And Resents Her Career

March 3, 2021 / Posted by:

Jennette McCurdy is a former Nickelodeon child star whom you may recognize from iCarly or the Ariana Grande Disney show, Sam & Cat (both created by alleged creepster Dan Schneider). Sam & Cat ended in controversy after one season; some of Jennette’s not-actually-that-racy lingerie photos leaked, she and Nickelodeon butted heads over her salary, and she didn’t go to the 2014 Kids’ Choice Awards cuz she said Nickelodeon put her in an “uncomfortable, compromising, unfair situation.” Since then Jennette’s done a little on-screen acting but chose to focus more on writing and directing short films. And she performed a short run of her one-woman show, entitled “I’m Glad My Mom Died” (yeeeah… more about the mother below).

During the pandemic 28-year-old Jennette started a podcast called Empty Inside, and, in the most recent episode, she opened up to guest Anna Faris about her career. Jennette says she has quit acting and, even though she’s still besties with her iCarly co-star Miranda Cosgrove, she won’t be appearing on the upcoming revival. She also explained that she’s embarrassed by her past roles. via Yahoo!:

“I’m so ashamed of the parts I’ve done in the past. I resent my career in a lot of ways. I feel so unfulfilled by the roles that I played and felt like it was the most cheesy, embarrassing… My friends at 15, they’re not like, ‘Oh, cool, you’re on this Nickelodeon show.’ It was embarrassing.”

Hmmm… maybe Jennette should’ve hung out with losers like me back in high school, who unapologetically loved kids TV like That’s So Raven and Arthur. 

Jennette also admits that acting was never really her thing; it was her mom’s idea, and she only went along with it so she could provide for her family, whom she’s described as “dysfunctional Mormons”:

“I was the main financial support for my family. My family didn’t have a lot of money, and this was the way out… always, always, always, acting was difficult for me.”

She says that she quit acting when her mom passed away from cancer in 2013:

“With her death kind of died a lot of her ideas for my life, and that was its own journey, and a difficult one for sure.”

Jennette has been open about her complicated relationship with her mother, who aided her daughter’s anorexia and bulimia. Jennette says her mom had been hospitalized for anorexia several times when she was a teen and never really got over it. When Jennette was 11, she realized staying smaller would help her book roles. So her mom helped her stay tiny by counting her calories, controlling her portions, and ordering her daughter to tell her friends she was “eating normally.” That disordered eating soon turned into anorexia, which eventually turned into bingeing and purging. It wasn’t until her early twenties that Jennette got into treatment and therapy.

Jennette also shares a story on the podcast about her mother yelling at her agent because he didn’t get her an audition for 2005’s “Because of Winn-Dixie.” The agent was on speakerphone, and Jennette overheard him explain that he couldn’t get Jennette an audition because she was “homely” and casting wanted an “ethereal beauty” (the role eventually went to AnnaSophia Robb).

Jennette says her one-woman show about her momma issues was a one-time thing, and the only way she’d return to acting is if she could work with someone she really admired. She says she doesn’t like how the industry sees her.

Welp, I think the thesis of this post is: FUCK CHILD STARDOM, and if the worst thing that comes out of Jennette’s trauma is that she hosts her own podcast, maybe she’s gonna be OK.

Pic: Instagram

Our commenting rules: Don't be racist or bigoted, or post comments like "Who cares?", or have multiple accounts, or repost a comment that was deleted by a mod, or post NSFW pics/videos/GIFs, or go off topic when not in an Open Post, or post paparazzi/event/red carpet pics from photo agencies due to copyright infringement issues. Also, promoting adblockers, your website, or your forum is not allowed. Breaking a rule may result in your Disqus account getting permanently or temporarily banned. New commenters must go through a period of pre-moderation. And some posts may be pre-moderated so it could take a minute for your comment to appear if it's approved. If you have a question or an issue with comments, email: michaelk@dlisted.com

src="https://c.statcounter.com/922697/0/f674ac4a/1/"
alt="drupal analytics" >