Book Review | I’m Glad My Mom Died

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Published by Simon and Schuster on August 9, 2022
Genres: Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts, Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs, Family & Relationships / Dysfunctional Families, Family & Relationships / General
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover

A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.

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.

I always have a hesitation on memoirs (don’t ask me why), so it’s interesting that I’ve read two memoirs in the past two-ish months and both were 5 star reads. I might have to rethink my stand on memoir’s!

This was definitely a difficult book to read at times due to my own abuse from my mother. I actually joked with my sister that our mother would’ve been like Jennette’s if our hometown hadn’t sucked the life out of her, sooooo, yay…question mark.

One of the parts that stick out to me is the shower scene. Gosh, reading all of that was so difficult. Later on, when Jennette is on tour and talks about how this is the first time she can shower by herself. At 18!! The first time! Wow! The disassociating that she’s doing just to get through this aspect of life is heartbreaking.

Another part is the accommodations that Jennette always makes for her mom. Obviously, the big one being the acting. But even the smaller ones, like her saying she likes purple more, but she lets her mom believe she likes pink. Not even being able to choose a favorite color in fear that your mother is going to be upset is such a horrible way to walk on egg shells.

The comparison between Jennette’s mom and The Creator were so stark and obvious that it’s just sad that Jennette had no break. There’s no reprieve for her and even when she gets her own place, her mom immediately moves in.

I was surprised by how the book was laid out and progressed. I didn’t really read the summary due to most people talking/discussing it, and so with that information and the title, I went in more with the idea that her mom’s abusive and horrible. You know, she’s glad her mom’s dead. I guess I should’ve figured that there has to be a lead up to figuring that out. In the end, I actually really appreciated how Jennette laid the book out. Even the part of going to the therapist, the therapist bringing up how horrible her mom was, and Jennette immediately stopping therapy. Then years later going back and being able to confront that abuse. It takes time to realize how horrible someone is to you and needing a third party can help. I absolutely love the end of her going to the cemetery to visit her mom’s grave and at the end, making the comment about how this is the last time she’ll be here. That’s when the title comes in, that’s when she can finally be at a place where she realizes that she’s glad her mom died.

xoxo Darcy