Former Nickelodeon child star Jennette McCurdy, who who was the start of Nickelodeon’s “iCarly” and “Sam & Cat,” has opened up about what really happens behind the scenes to child actors in the entertainment industry.
“My whole childhood and adolescence were very exploited,” McCurdy said. “…There were cases where people had the best intentions and maybe didn’t know what they were doing. And also cases where they did — they knew exactly what they were doing.”
The former actress gets candid in her new memoir in which she details her toxic relationship with her overbearing mother and the exploitation she experienced working on Nickelodeon productions.
According to the New York Times, McCurdy, 30, wrote in her memoir about disturbing experiences on the children’s television network when she was asked to be “photographed in a bikini during a wardrobe fitting and being encouraged to drink alcohol by an intimidating figure she simply calls the Creator.”
McCurdy says that when her mother was present on set, she never objected, and would tell her daughter that this “was the price of showbiz success.“
“Everyone wants what you have,” she allegedly told her daughter.
Per Fox: In McCurdy’s memoir, which will be published on Aug. 9, she recounted auditioning for acting roles at the age of 6 and being “shepherded” into the work by her controlling mother. She also noted that she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders and anxiety. McCurdy believed she owed her loyalty to her mother, who controlled every aspect of her life.
After McCurdy starred on “iCarly,” Nickelodeon promised her a spinoff series of her own, but walked back on their offer and made Ariana Grande a co-lead on “Sam & Cat.”
McCurdy says she felt undermined by the network as they discouraged her from exploring other career opportunities outside the show. However, those rules did not seem to apply to Grande.
“What finally undid me was when Ariana came whistle-toning in with excitement because she had spent the previous evening playing charades at Tom Hanks’s house. That was the moment I broke,” McCurdy wrote.
What does “charades at Tom Hanks’s house” really mean?
“Sam & Cat” aired for only one season during 2013-2014, and after the show’s cancellation, Nickelodeon offered the former actress $300,000 to keep her experiences at the network private, McCurdy said. She refused the offer.
