
I'm Glad My Mom Died
Audible Audiobook
– Unabridged
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.
In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.
Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.
- Listening Length6 hours and 26 minutes
- Audible release dateAug. 9 2022
- LanguageEnglish
- ASINB09VJ1YVMH
- VersionUnabridged
- Program TypeAudiobook
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Product details
Listening Length | 6 hours and 26 minutes |
---|---|
Author | Jennette McCurdy |
Narrator | Jennette McCurdy |
Audible.ca Release Date | August 09 2022 |
Publisher | Simon & Schuster Audio |
Program Type | Audiobook |
Version | Unabridged |
Language | English |
ASIN | B09VJ1YVMH |
Best Sellers Rank | #24 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #1 in Dysfunctional Relationships (Books) #1 in Family Health #1 in Parenting & Families (Audible Books & Originals) |
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I thought I was prepared for what to come, but I was mistaken. Her story is so much worse than I could have imagined. The physical, emotional and mental abuse from her mom and other people who took advantage of her is truly horrific. However, the road to recovery is inspiring. This book is so deeply personal and I appreciate the bravery Jennette had to share this with the world.
I highly recommend reading this and getting to understand her a little bit more. I have so much more respect for her as a person.
Arrived on time, no damage, perfect condition, fun read! Thank you.
you just can’t help but root for her at every stage.
Pick up the book, man. Just do it. You know you’re thinking about it!
Jennette, if you read this, your book had me in tears, both from laughter and the kind of crying and discomfort that comes from being able to relate to something on a deep level you didn't realize was there before. Thank you for being so open and honest - this couldn't have been easy to write or relive - and I'm sure this will resonate with so many people, just like it did with me.
If you're hesitant to read this, don't. This is one of those books that will stay with you forever.
Top reviews from other countries

Take aways -
Personally I read it for industry secrets, such as calorie (calorific) restriction to stunt growth and aging, and for another account of Hollywood and entertainment ind. control, corruption, abuse.
But I also took away from it the following:
Ego, inflation, narcissistic control - material possessions, hoarding, an attempt to distract oneself from death, own mortality...
I learnt a bit about the inner workings of agencies, academies, and acting classes, introductory techniques, at least for children, although it's probably quite similar to what adults are taught to do, i.e. make noises and behave like animals to loosen up.
High metabolism, very fast. Older you get the metabolism shifts where you 'only have to look at something to get fat'. Carbs and sugar convert to fat.
Net's mom is on a regime of hot tea every morning for breakfast, nothing else and nothing in the tea, and a plate of steamed vegetables every night for dinner, plain, nothing on them. Rarely lunch - sometimes a naked salad or half a chocolate chip snack bar.
I approve of the steamed vegetables and salads, but it's not enough to withstand the malnourishing abuse of tea and snack bars and it's very likely that this may have led to or contributed to her stage-four cancer diagnosis which went into remission and came back for the last time - clue is in the title, I'm Glad My Mom Died. But they do - including the meagre chocolate in the snack bars - speed up metabolism. Need protein, the building blocks of life. Not all protein is created equal, I'm sure, but protein in whatever form is a must. Theoretically, to my mind, it should help to retain youthfulness, but, from experience, may also add to or kickstart the aging / maturation process. Carbs, selective carbs, the same when it comes to youthfulness, as is highlighted in the exclusion of protein, resulting in stunted growth and potentially metabolic high speeds (depending on genetic disposition). I would imagine calorie restriction is a much greater factor than the choice of food though, and protein would be infinitely preferential over simple, refined carbohydrates, as these would definitely, provably (you only need to look around), ruin the looks and sicken the body. Striking some kind of a balance between complex carbohydrates and protein is key, perhaps panning from one to the other (if not in tandem), but proteins are integral.
Water-dense fruits, watermelon and jicama are mentioned. Cayenne and chili peppers for increasing metabolism, which makes sense; these are all things I have in my diet, and I went through a phase some years ago of eating cayenne spice directly from a plate, licking my finger and dabbing it, almost every day. I love heat, and sweating is great and purifying for the body and the skin. Coffee is mentioned, decaf (probably because they're Mormons), as an appetite suppressant, or nicotine of course, and there is something to be said for the both of these, sparingly and from quality sources, but both are stressors for the body and the metabolic system, so it depends what the goal is - to suppress appetite and weight gain or to enjoy youthfulness and good health?
Back to the book and my 'review' :
It's really screwed up reading about the micromanaging of her life and the control and invasiveness of her mother, most prominently. The narcissistic hallmarks are there. But you know, we all have narcissism in us. It's the nature of the ego - taken to its extreme conclusions, through inflation and overinflation. And this book made me contemplate further on something that was floating around my head weeks ago, months ago, which didn't really find an outlet or finished-formulation. I'm still forming this idea - these thoughts and feelings - and they are: narcissists may not be able to be trusted but they deserve pity, compassion, empathy, even if we can't get too close. They're flawed, damaged people, not monsters or demons or some such thing. I feel like they're lost-- perhaps permanently, in this life of theirs, this incarnation; their souls are trapped behind the false self, the fragile ego that overinflates, because of whatever their own experiences and traumas were, and it protects, shrouds, ultimately blots out the light of their true selves. It's very sad. I know there's not a lot of time or thought given, seemingly, in our current culture, to this possibility for understanding and compassion. From what I can tell, and I've watched quite a number of videos by Dr. Ramani and others, and own a Ramani book, they're regarded as irredeemable, inhuman. And it may be so that they are, but I feel they're in there somewhere, usurped by a personal demiurge. This book helped to bridge that gap for me, to make that connection concrete, because of the love that's at the heart of this book. Despite everything, there is a love there - from daughter to mother and from mother to daughter (and sons). It made me tearful. I didn't expect that, especially given the bold (but wry) title. There's a quote about the mother being consumed by the abyss of her brain tumor and the only thing she's able to say is 'love you'. I know there'll be conflicting feelings, for Jennette more than the average reader, as to whether this is the 'same old' - attachment - but I think the love was there, all along, it just finds inadequate expression because of the warping effect this life can have on us. In closing, I found the book to be emotionally resonant - what it feels like to be a human.

Writing ‘I’m glad my mom died’ after receiving extensive therapy, McCurdy takes us through her struggles with her mother since she was six years old, with her mother dreaming of her becoming a famous actor, her mother’s greatest dream. We gain a greater appreciation of what it takes to become famous, and the abusive mother-daughter relationship McCurdy endured as well as further insight into her state of mind throughout the book.
In addition to being emotionally charged, I'm Glad My Mom Died is also filled with moments of light-heartedness that will make readers smile amidst their tears. McCurdy’s musings on topics such as Death Metal music or her propensity for making inappropriate jokes will bring some much-needed levity to this otherwise serious subject matter.
While most celebrity memoirs are written either about how wonderful it is to be a celeb or the stresses of such a life and such wealth etc, McCurdy provides a refreshingly different take on the life she never wanted and shunned as soon as she felt strong enough to break away from the life someone else chose for her. I would have been interested in what she is doing now or plans to do going forward without any acting in her life. So far, this would appear to entail a huge amount of therapy and little else.
I enjoyed the writing style, which is easy to read and still poignant. I remember watching both iCarly and Sam and Cat when my daughter was younger and enjoyed both shows, you wouldn’t have known how much McCurdy was hating her part in the shows which demonstrates how good her acting is. However, her treatment by Nickelodeon, particularly on Sam and Cat (a show that was supposed to be just Sam but ended up being her and Ariana Grande) sounded awful and definitely leaves you with concerns over their treatment of childhood stars.
Jennette McCurdy’s “I’m Glad My Mom Died” is an emotionally charged memoir that captures so much about abusive relationships and self-destruction. Along with touches of dark humour, McCurdy creates a powerful story about finding hope in tragedy. A beacon of light for fellow sufferers and an interesting look at life as a child TV star, I am sure that more will follow the same path!


Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 9, 2023
Writing ‘I’m glad my mom died’ after receiving extensive therapy, McCurdy takes us through her struggles with her mother since she was six years old, with her mother dreaming of her becoming a famous actor, her mother’s greatest dream. We gain a greater appreciation of what it takes to become famous, and the abusive mother-daughter relationship McCurdy endured as well as further insight into her state of mind throughout the book.
In addition to being emotionally charged, I'm Glad My Mom Died is also filled with moments of light-heartedness that will make readers smile amidst their tears. McCurdy’s musings on topics such as Death Metal music or her propensity for making inappropriate jokes will bring some much-needed levity to this otherwise serious subject matter.
While most celebrity memoirs are written either about how wonderful it is to be a celeb or the stresses of such a life and such wealth etc, McCurdy provides a refreshingly different take on the life she never wanted and shunned as soon as she felt strong enough to break away from the life someone else chose for her. I would have been interested in what she is doing now or plans to do going forward without any acting in her life. So far, this would appear to entail a huge amount of therapy and little else.
I enjoyed the writing style, which is easy to read and still poignant. I remember watching both iCarly and Sam and Cat when my daughter was younger and enjoyed both shows, you wouldn’t have known how much McCurdy was hating her part in the shows which demonstrates how good her acting is. However, her treatment by Nickelodeon, particularly on Sam and Cat (a show that was supposed to be just Sam but ended up being her and Ariana Grande) sounded awful and definitely leaves you with concerns over their treatment of childhood stars.
Jennette McCurdy’s “I’m Glad My Mom Died” is an emotionally charged memoir that captures so much about abusive relationships and self-destruction. Along with touches of dark humour, McCurdy creates a powerful story about finding hope in tragedy. A beacon of light for fellow sufferers and an interesting look at life as a child TV star, I am sure that more will follow the same path!

