Saying goodbye to her acting days. Jennette McCurdy has changed a lot since playing Sam Puckett on iCarly and the subsequent spinoff series Sam & Cat. The former Nickelodeon star is no longer nabbing new onscreen roles, however, she traded in her days as an actress for another career path.
“I quit a few years ago to try my hand [at] and writing and directing — it’s going great,” the actress revealed to fans during a March 2021 episode of her “Empty Inside” podcast. “I quit a few years ago because I initially didn’t want to do it. My mom put me in it when I was 6 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.”
It was after her mom’s death in 2013 that she decided to step back from Hollywood.
“Walking away was really difficult, but it was something that I needed to do for my mental health and for my overall peace,” Jennette also told “Empty Inside” podcast listeners. “And it was difficult. I didn’t know what to do with myself when I didn’t have things that always dictated my identity around anymore.”
Eventually, she debuted a one-woman show titled I’m Glad My Mom Died in February 2020.
“I felt like I was able to get back out there and start writing and directing my own projects,” Jennette told Elite Daily in April 2020 of the stage show, crediting therapy with her decision to create this project. “Once I was at a place where I had [a] level of authority to speak on [her past struggles] because I had come out the other end.”
The actress shared that her show “reignited my passion for performing,” but explained that there are still other things from her past that she wants to come to terms with.
“I had to come to peace with [my mom’s death] first,” Jennette told the website. “And then it’s like, ‘OK, now I can kind of get [to other things].’ I had to fix the eating disorder, and now I can kind of get to the other stuff. It was a little bit lower on the priority list but it’s now more of a priority.”
Scroll through our gallery to see Jennette’s transformation over the years.
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