Jennette McCurdy says she has the support of her brothers following the publication of her memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, in which she documents her abusive childhood.
In the new book, published on 9 August, the former Nickelodeon star revealed the emotional and physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother Debra, who died of breast cancer in 2013.
McCurdy details how her mother encouraged her to engage in disordered eating and turned a blind eye when she was being “exploited” on the set of iCarly.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, McCurdy said her three elder brothers Dustin, Scott, and Marcus – whom the book is dedicated to – have been “so supportive” and “understanding” of the memoir.
“They get the title, to put it simply,” McCurdy said.
“It was also a title that I knew I wanted early on I wanted something that was bold and also something that I meant sincerely,” she explained.
While the striking title has garnered some scrutiny, McCurdy insists it is “authentic” and true to her experience.
“I would never use a bold and attention-grabbing title if it weren’t authentic. I would never do it if it were just coming from a flippant place,” she said.
“That’s not my approach to humor. I knew that anybody who had experienced parental abuse would understand the title, and anybody who had a sense of humor would understand the title.”
Opening up about her mental health struggles in the memoir, McCurdy said her mother taught her disordered eating so that she could delay puberty and continue to work as a child actor.
In a separate interview with The Cut, McCurdy said her mother “explicitly told me how to engage in disordered eating”.
“As a survival instinct and a coping mechanism growing up, I couldn’t face that it was an eating disorder, and I just lived in the delusion that this was mom’s way of helping me and helping my career,” she said.
While therapy eventually led her to recognise she was being abused, McCurdy said she was initially in denial.
“My first therapist had suggested that she [Debra] was abusive, and that led me to leave that therapist,” McCurdy said.
“I couldn’t handle the idea that my mother was abusive because that would mean reframing my entire life.”
