As a child, Jennette McCurdy starred in the beloved Nickelodeon sitcom iCarly as Sam Puckett, the feisty best friend to Carly, played by Miranda Cosgrove. The series ran for five years and became a fan-favorite, projecting Jennette and Miranda into child stardom. However, Jennette swiftly left the acting world in 2018, just a few years after finishing up her Nickelodeon spinoff series with Ariana Grande called Sam & Cat. Keep reading to uncover everything Jennette been up to since her days on Nickelodeon.
After four years of living outside of the public’s eye, Jennette released her debut book and memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, on August 9, 2022. The novel details the abuse she was subjugated to by her mother, who died from cancer in 2013, during her years of child stardom. After its release, the book was minted as a number-one New York Times-bestselling memoir and has achieved pop-cultural phenomenon status.
“My whole childhood and adolescence were very exploited,” she told the New York Times in August 2022. “It still gives my nervous system a reaction to say it. There were cases where people had the best intentions and maybe didn’t know what they were doing. And also cases where they did — they knew exactly what they were doing.”
Jennette revealed that writing the book has been helpful in her own healing. “It felt significant in repairing some of the really weighted, complicated relationships that I had with acting,” she told the newspaper. “It felt like finally I’m saying my words and saying things I want to be saying. I’m myself.”
Following the success of her book, the former iCarly star signed a two-book, seven-figure deal with Penguin Random House’s Ballantine Books in October 2022. According to Peter McGuigan at Ultra Literary, who sold the North American rights for the forthcoming releases, Jennette is excited to get started on writing more books. “Jennette wants to write fiction,” he told Publishers Weekly. “Being a novelist is her dream job.”
When it comes to new endeavors, such as moviemaking or returning to acting, Jennette told the New York Times, “I think things should feel natural. So much of my life was about forcing or pushing things. So when something feels like it’s working, I’ll let that be, and anything else can fall by the wayside.”
Scroll through our gallery to uncover everything Jennette has been working on since her time on iCarly.
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