Audiobook Review: I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Narrator: Jennette McCurdy
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release Date: August 09, 2022
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.
In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.
Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.
Even though I didn’t know who Jennette McCurdy was (iCarly was way after my time), I heard so much buzz about this book, I had to read it. I’m so glad I did. Jennette reads the audiobook herself with an eerie detachment that made me want to keep listening. She is unflinchingly honest about what she shares and I imagine some detachment was necessary to keep from breaking down while reading it.
Her childhood was basically ruined by the hands of her narcissistic mother. Her mother had breast cancer when Jennette was very young and played the cancer card whenever she could to manipulate situations to her benefit. As a child, Jennette wanted to do everything she could to keep her mom happy. So that meant when her mom announced when Jennette was seven-years-old that Jennette was going to become an actress, she went along with it even though it made her nervous and uncomfortable. She taught Jennette how to be anorexic, setting her up for a lifetime of disordered eating – so she could stay small and young looking to get better acting jobs. She did a lot of other disturbing things too, like washing Jennette’s hair in the shower until she was eighteen years old – saying that Jennette didn’t know how to do it properly.
Because Jennette didn’t know any different, she doesn’t realize she was being abused by her mother until after her mom dies of a relapse of cancer. I totally get the title, even though it’s morbid sounding. I don’t know that she would have been able to get out from under her mother’s control without her death – at least not for a good long while.
Whether you’re a Jennette McCurdy fan or not, I’m Glad My Mom Died is a memoir worth reading.
Highly recommended.
