Jennette McCurdy appeared on the latest episode of Red Table Talk on Wednesday to share further details about her tumultuous relationship with her late mother, Debra, who passed away from breast cancer in 2013. The former Nickelodeon star, who rose to fame on the hit series “iCarly” in 2007, released her explosive memoir “I’m Glad My Mom” died last month, and during her chat with Jada Pinkett-Smith, Willow, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris, she touched on how her mother used to make her shower with her older brother, Scotty.
McCurdy noted that when she was 11, Debra thought it was still appropriate for her to shower with her brother, who was 16 at the time, recounting how her mom simply didn’t want any of her children to grow up. She read an excerpt from her book, saying, “He’s almost 16 at this point. I get really embarrassed when she showers us together. I can tell he does too.”
Pinkett-Smith later interjected and asked how that experience affected the relationship she shares with her brother today, to which the retired actress said she actually shares a great bond with Scotty and her other two brothers, insisting that they “have been a source of love and consistency in my life when there really wasn’t much anywhere else.”
“Isn’t it amazing? We have such a beautiful bond, and there’s such an understanding there I think because of the things we went through together and the things we saw together.”
Further in the interview, McCurdy assured viewers that she’s still on good terms with her former co-star Miranda Cosgrove and that she feels “grateful” for the friendship they have kept since their Nickelodeon show concluded back in 2012. “It did provide me a lot of comfort in those really challenging years.”
“My relationship with Miranda was hugely healing to my concept of women. My mom was always saying, ‘Men will never really know you and they’ll hurt you, but women will know you deeply and then they’ll hurt you, you tell me which is worse.’”
McCurdy’s chat on Red Table Talk comes just weeks after she gave an interview with The New York Times, where she said her entire childhood had been “exploited” — not just from how her mother had treated her but also the trauma that occurred while working with “The Creator” on “iCarly.”
“My whole childhood and adolescence were very exploited,” she explained. 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.”