When it comes to the truth about her acting career, Jennette McCurdy is not holding back.

During a March 2021 episode of her “Empty Inside” podcast, the former Nickelodeon star looked back at her days on the network and revealed some not-so-fond memories that come to mind. “I was a famous 19-year-old and making a bunch of money, and I felt like I had everything at my fingertips,” Jennette explained. “But I was deeply unhappy, and I actually really resented my life because I didn’t like the projects that I was a part of.”

The actress played the role of Sam Puckett on iCarly from 2007 to 2012 and brought the character back to life for its one-season spinoff series Sam & Cat. When further discussing her past projects, albeit not by name, Jennette explained why it’s proved “difficult” to tell the truth about her past experiences.

“The shows that I was on were so loved by so many people and so many kids, and I hear constantly, ‘You made my childhood,'” the Netflix alum said. “And I think that’s great that they had that experience. But that just was not my experience, and I felt a lot of shame — that I wasn’t able to identify at the time — because I didn’t like waltzing onto an overlit, cheesy set and shouting a line. It felt so pointless and shallow.”

Specifically, the blonde beauty said that her iconic role was “very different” than who she was at the time. “To be known globally for this thing that’s not really me, it was just like, What the f–k am I doing?” Jennette said. “How do I even find myself when I’m 19, and I’ve been famous for all the years that I would normally be stumbling through finding myself, yet I’m known as a thing that I’m not. It just was — ‘hellish,’ I think, is not too intense of a word.”

These quotes came nearly two weeks after Jennette revealed in a separate episode of “Empty Inside” that she had made the decision to quit acting. “I quit a few years ago because I initially didn’t want to do it. My mom put me in it when I was six and by sort of age, I guess, 10 or 11, I was the main financial support for my family. My family didn’t have a lot of money, and this was the way out, which I actually think was helpful in driving me to some degree of success,” she said at the time. “I ultimately quit after my mom passed away because with her death kind of died a lot of her ideas for my life, and that was its own journey, and a difficult one for sure.”

Scroll through our gallery to read everything Jennette has said about her acting career. 

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