It looks like Jennette McCurdy has finally spilled the beans on her time working at Nickelodeon
through her new book, titled "I'm Glad My Mother Died."
She has been making revelation after revelation
about her experiences there.
And it would appear that she did not lead the glamorous life we all were under the impression
that she did.
While it was a living torment for her, one of her key co-stars, Ariana Grande, didn't
have it as bad as she did.
And what's more, it seems that McCurdy also reveals how Ariana had completely and utterly
destroyed her.
As a result of this book, McCurdy has received
support from many of the aforementioned former Nickelodeon stars.
However, Ariana has not provided any such backing.
The discoveries made in the book are to blame for the lack of support she has received.
When asked to explain why she not only despised but was jealous of Ariana Grande when they
shared the screen in the short-lived program 'Sam & Cat,' the star of 'iCarly' didn't pull
any punches in her explanation.
The memoir contains several shocking revelations from McCurdy's years working at Nickelodeon,
such as when the studio offered her hush money to stay quiet on the alleged abuse she dealt
with behind the scenes.
In addition, the memoir contains several other shocking revelations, including her complicated
relationships with her mother and the struggle she had to face being a child actor.
The book has been something that McCurdy wanted to release into the world.
McCurdy gave an interview to The New York Times before the publication of her memoir.
During that time, she discussed her time on the set of the Nickelodeon show ICarly.
For six seasons beginning in 2007, viewers watched as Carly Shay's (Miranda Cosgrove)
life was turned upside down by the unexpected popularity of her online series.
To deal with her sudden fame, she had to lean on Sam Puckett (Jennette McCurdy) and Freddie
Benson (Nathan Kress).
McCurdy, who was only 15 when the show debuted, acknowledged that "people always had the best
intentions and maybe didn't know what they were doing" in some episodes.
But, around the same time, she also admitted that there were instances in which the more
senior members of her community "knew what they were doing."
At one point in her book, McCurdy wrote about a period in her life when she was beginning
to get a lot of work chances.
But due to her contract and lack of celebrity, she was unable to attend a large number of
auditions.
In contrast, Ariana Grande, who was already a star when they were taping the show, was
excused if she had to miss the recording since she had other commitments.
After being turned down for participation in an audition on one of these occasions,
they granted Grande permission to skip out on a filming duty.
That was the moment when McCurdy completely lost it.
In her book, she made sure the reader was fully aware that she was enraged with Grande
for having a more excellent star status than she did at the time.
McCurdy did this so the reader might understand why she felt this way.
However, since she has continued to work in the industry, Ariana Grande is a bigger draw
than Curdy at the box office.
McCurdy claims that she began to hate Grande after the singer "frequently" missed filming
"to sing at award shows, record new songs, and conduct press for her impending album."
McCurdy says she became resentful of Grande after she began to miss filming (via Entertainment
Tonight).
But, on the other side, McCurdy was the one who they tasked with "angrily holding down
the fort."
"There was a week where they told me Ariana wouldn't appear at all, and that they would
just write around her absence this episode by just having her character be locked in
a box.
Are you.
Kidding me," McCurdy wrote.
"So I have to turn down movies all the while Ariana's off whistle-toning at the Billboard
Music Awards?
F***.
This."
McCurdy also "booked two features during 'iCarly,'" but she "had to turn them down because the
team wouldn't simply write her out of episodes to go shoot them."
McCurdy was referring to the fact that she could not get the 'iCarly' writers to let
her leave the show to film the features.
So for Grande to focus on her singing career, the producers allowed her to skip episodes.
"It is what it is.
Ariana misses work in pursuit of her career while I act with a box," McCurdy writes.
"I'm truly pissed about it.
And I'm pissed at her.
Jealous of her."
When McCurdy gives more information, such as that Grande and McCurdy grew up in drastically
different socioeconomic circumstances, her recall of the time she spent in Grande's shadow
and the envy it inevitably induced becomes all the more relevant to the audience.
McCurdy states in her writing that she lived in what she calls "Garbage Grove" with a violent
mother.
The latter relentlessly pursued celebrity through any necessary means, even though the
family could not afford their rent or energy bills.
On the other hand, Grande spent her childhood in Boca Raton, Florida, which she described
as "an incredibly wealthy and idyllic town."
She also had the privilege of having "a healthy mom who could buy her whatever she wanted,
whenever she wanted — Gucci bags, fancy vacations, Chanel outfits," according to her
biography.
McCurdy continues, "At this point in her career, they featured Ariana on nearly every 30 Under
30 list that's compiled.
Meanwhile I've reached a point in my career where my team is thrilled that I'm the new
face of Rebecca Bonbon, a tween clothing line whose logo is a cat with her tongue hanging
out.
Sold exclusively on Walmart.
And I often make the erroneous assumption that my career is on par with Ariana's.
I just had to say it.
I'm in the same environment as her, and she never exactly tries to hide her achievements."
When Grande arrived to set one day and stated that she had spent "the previous evening playing
charades at Tom Hanks' house," that was the moment that ultimately pushed McCurdy over
the edge into genuine loathing of Grande.
But, of course, McCurdy had been on the fence about Grande for quite sometime before that.
On an episode of Nightline, McCurdy revisited the years she spent working alongside Grande
on the short-lived Nickelodeon spin-off Sam and Cat.
Coincidentally, the show aired in 2013 when the pop singer was experiencing meteoric success
with the release of her debut album, Yours Truly.
"You literally wrote, 'I frequently made the mistake of comparing my career to Ariana's,'"
host Juju Chang read directly from McCurdy's book.
"And being jealous of everything — being jealous of her childhood, jealous of a music
career that you didn't even want."
And Jennette replied with this regarding the matter: "Sure, I was jealous specifically
that she played charades with Tom Hanks.
That's what got me.
Charades with Tom Hanks!
But I was so younger at the time, and I think it's tough not to compare yourself to somebody
at that age, when you're in an environment around them all the time.
So I made that mistake repeatedly.
And I'm glad to be at a place now where I wouldn't trade positions with somebody."
"That was the moment I snapped," McCurdy wrote in her book.
"I couldn't take any of it anymore.
Music performances and magazine covers… whatever, I'll just simply get over it.
But having family game night at the national treasure, two-time Academy Award–winner
and six-time nominee Tom Hanks's house?
That's it.
I'm done."
McCurdy adds that from that moment on that, "I didn't like her.
I couldn't like her," adding, "Pop star success I could handle, but hanging out with Sheriff
Woody, with Forrest f***ing Gump?
This has gone too far.
So now, every time she's not there at work, it feels like a personal attack."
If you find any of this to be a little ludicrous, then consider yourself quite lucky.
Your life may be evident that you have never experienced the feeling of envy toward a person
who, from the moment they were born, was poised to achieve more than you are.
It should be no surprise that McCurdy's teenage obsession with Grande is not the most significant
insight she gained from reading her book.
However, applause is for her courageous and empathic depiction of the abuse she suffered
at the hands of those she ought to have been able to trust and her struggle with bulimia.
Even if it doesn't result in an invitation to Forrest F***ing Gump's residence, it's
still worth doing.
Meanwhile, here's another video to keep you entertained.