Jennette McCurdy has ‘fully recovered’ from disordered eating – she wants you to know that you can too

Jennette’s therapist “Encouraged [her] to be gentle and compassionate with [herself]” when it came to triggers, advising her to “Recognise when [she] was experiencing a trigger, but to allow [her] reaction to be informative and and to provide a way towards healing.”

She summarises, “I felt it was really important to not have any trigger warnings because I thought, “Maybe the person who most needs to read this is the person who wouldn’t because of [the fear of] being triggered by it.”

When Jennette landed the role of ‘Sam’ – the tomboyish, fried-chicken-eating best friend – in iCarly, she became an overnight celebrity; her life dictated by the wants of her fans, producers, and – of course – her mum. Put simply, she loathed being famous. And it’s not hard to see why. 

In 2012, paparazzi took covert photos of her on holiday in Hawaii with her then-partner, which soon hit the international press, prompting her mother to send a vicious email beginning, “You used to be my perfect little angel, but now you are nothing more than a little SLUT, a FLOOZY, ALL USED UP.” She then decried Jennette’s “pudgier” appearance, before accusing her of “EATING” her guilt. 

Prior to fulfilling any promotional obligations for I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette underwent therapy specifically to help her cope with the press, telling me, “Historically, the press has made me very anxious, so I wanted to make sure that I was grounding myself, taking care of myself and was able to represent myself authentically, which can be difficult to do in the media.” 

“I’m not going to become some smaller version of myself.”

It helps that this time around, Jennette is promoting something she’s actually passionate about, explaining, “To know that I was talking about something that I believed in, and have the conversations that I wanted to have, was hugely instrumental in shifting my relationship with the media.”  

In a discussion with her therapist, Jennette considered how doing press for I’m Glad My Mom Died would differ to say, iCarly. “I kind of said some version of what I’ve just told you,” Jennette explains to me, before adding that her therapist pointed out she was “neglecting a pretty big piece,” namely her emotional and spiritual growth: 

“My therapist said ‘You’re going to be able to represent yourself better because you’re not who you were at 18 or 21. Now you’re 30 – with all the work that you’ve put in between then and now.’”

Jennette continues, “It was a really helpful reminder of, ‘Oh, yeah, I have grown a lot, and I can show up as myself now, and I’m not going to revert. I’m not going to become some smaller version of myself. I can be myself.’”

I’m Glad My Mom Died is by Jennette McCurdy (Simon & Schuster). 

For more from Glamour UK’s Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.