In her new memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy gets brutally honest about her time working with Ariana Grande on Nickelodeon's Sam & Cat. McCurdy became known to audiences everywhere when iCarly premiered in 2007. She played Sam Puckett, the foul-mouthed best friend of Miranda Cosgrove’s Carly, and quickly became a fan favorite before scoring multiple nominations at the Kids’ and Teen Choice Awards. McCurdy reprised her role in Sam & Cat, the spinoff series that brought her together with Ariana Grande, whose Victorious character accounts for the other half of the show’s title.
McCurdy announced that she had quit acting altogether last year, citing her mother’s death and her own embarrassment of her past roles as reasons. iCarly has since been rebooted on Paramount+ to critical success, and McCurdy is the only main cast member not to return. She explains in I’m Glad My Mom Died, which just hit shelves and is already sold out on Amazon, that acting was her mother’s dream for her rather than her own. When she died, McCurdy says, her acting career was also laid to rest.
The book sees McCurdy recalling her time on Sam & Cat, which she says was rife with frustration and double standards. She says Grande “regularly” missed filming to attend to her budding music career, which included award shows, recording her album, and doing other press events. Meanwhile, McCurdy says she was left to “angrily hold down the fort.” She notes that this especially angered her because she also had other opportunities and offers outside of Nickelodeon, but showrunners were not willing to write her out the way they would Grande. Read McCurdy’s recollection below:
“The week where I was told Ariana would not be here at all, and that they would write around her absence this episode by having her character be locked in a box. Are you. Kidding me. So I have to turn down movies while Ariana’s off whistle-toning at the Billboard Music Awards? Ariana misses work in pursuit of her music career while I act with a box. I’m pissed about it. And I’m pissed at her. Jealous of her. Ariana is at the stage in her career where she’s popping up on every 30 Under 30 list that exists. And I’m at the stage in my career where my team is excited that I’m the new face of Rebecca Bonbon, a tween clothing line featuring a cat with her tongue sticking out. Sold exclusively at Walmart. And I frequently make the mistake of comparing my career to Ariana’s. I can’t help it. I’m constantly in the same environment as her, and she doesn’t exactly try to hide her successes.”
McCurdy also says that she began fully disliking Grande after Grande came to set one day and talked about spending “the previous evening playing charades at Tom Hanks’ house.” McCurdy cites this as the moment she “broke” and that Grande missing work felt like “a personal attack” from that day forward. It’s hard not to sympathize with McCurdy, especially after the revelation that those around her and Grande enabled Grande’s career development while stalling hers at the same time.
It’s a sad story, and at the same time, it’s good to see McCurdy find success as she reclaims the narrative all these years later. It was always a treat to watch her on iCarly, and the way she was singled out for a spinoff as soon as it ended is a testament to how much audiences loved her. Based on I’m Glad My Mom Died, it sounds like she never wanted success quite to the degree of Grande’s domination of pop culture. However, if she ever decides to return to the small screen (maybe an iCarly cameo?), there is little doubt that fans would welcome McCurdy back with open arms.
Source: Variety