Jennette McCurdy has revealed a brutal email that she once received from her late and abusive mother, Debra McCurdy.
The 30-year-old discussed her latest book, I’m Glad My Mom Died, during an upcoming appearance on Facebook’s The Red Table Talk, hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris. The memoir is centred upon the emotional and physical abuse that the former actor received from her mother, who died of breast cancer in 2013.
In a preview of the episode, McCurdy read an excerpt from her book, which showcased an email that her mother had sent her, after seeing a photo of the iCarly star online.
“I am so disappointed in you,” McCurdy began, reciting the message. “You used to be my perfect little angel, but now you are nothing more than a little-all caps-slut, a floozy, all used up. And to think you wasted it on that hideous ogre of a man. I saw the pictures on a website called TMZ. I saw you rubbing his disgusting hairy stomach.”
McCurdy also addressed how her mother called her out for “lying”, as she had told Debra that she was going out to see her friend, Colton, at the time.
As The Red Table Talk hosts were all shocked by Debra’s comments, the author continued addressed how her mother called her as a “liar, conniving, evil”.
The Sam and Cat star proceeded to read her mother’s message, in which she criticised her daughter’s weight and love life at the time.
“You look pudgier too. It’s clear you’re eating your guilt,” she continued reading. “Thinking of you with his ding-dong inside of you makes me sick. Sick! I raised you better than this. What happened to my good little girl? Where did she go and who is this monster that has replaced her? You’re an ugly monster now.”
Debra McCurdy also claimed that Jennette McCurdy’s siblings didn’t want to be involved in the Nickelodeon star’s life, before concluding the email by asking her child for money.
“I told your brothers about you and they all said they disown you just like I do. We want nothing to do with you, McCurdy. Love, Mom — or should I say Deb since I am no longer your mother? P.S. Send money for a new fridge; ours broke.”
When McCurdy noted how that “PS” message “gets her”, Willow Smith chimed in to echo that sentiment: “Wow.”
In her memoir, McCurdy also opened up about having an eating disorder throughout her abusive childhood. She said that she ate a certain way at the request of her mother, who wanted to delay her child’s puberty process so she could get more child acting roles, which would support her family.
During an interview with The Cut earlier this month, ahead of her book’s release, McCurdy said that her mother “explicitly told [her] how to engage in disordered eating”.
“As a survival instinct and a coping mechanism growing up, I couldn’t face that it was an eating disorder, and I just lived in the delusion that this was mom’s way of helping me and helping my career,” she said. “In therapy and in retrospect, recognising that as such obvious abuse, it’s unsettling.”
For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this piece, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. You can visit their website here.
NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. They can be reached by phone on 845 838 2040 or their website here.
