Former Child Star Jennette McCurdy Found 'Closure' Writing About Her 'Complicated Relationship' With Her Mother in Bestselling Memoir

Jennette McCurdy embraced her toxic past in order to move forward.

During the Wednesday, January 21, episode of TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle, the former child star, 33, revealed that penning a memoir about her troubled relationship with her mother, Debra, actually helped her find closure with demons from her past.

Co-host Jenna Bush Hager asked whether writing and talking about some of her darkest moments helped her “process” her emotions.

“The seed of any idea comes from a deeply emotional place. It has to come from that personal place, whether I’m writing non-fiction or fiction…” she replied. “For me, writing is kind of an opportunity to find closure in areas where maybe there isn’t so much closure. It’s a way to process feelings that maybe I haven’t fully processed.”

McCurdy’s book I’m Glad My Mom Died sold three million copies following its August 2022 release. She described it as “a memoir detailing my complicated relationship with my mother, including her sort of helping me develop an eating disorder, and a lot of Hollywood stuff is in there too.”

The 33-year-old previously revealed that her mom showered her and examined her private parts until she "was 17 [or] 18.”

Co-host Sheinelle Jones pointed out that McCurdy would “suppress [her] anger” when she was younger and asked whether she “rewired” her brain.

“I’m so glad you bring up anger. I just want to talk about anger all the time….” the iCarly star admitted. “[As women,] we’re supposed to be polite all the time and kind and say the thing we’re expected to say, accommodate other people’s feelings. It’s exhausting, and it’s so unhelpful. I think anger is a beautiful emotion that, when channeled properly, can be so effective.”

In addition to breaking down her relationship with her mother, McCurdy targeted an undisclosed figure named “The Creator,” in her memoir, which many suspect is Dan Schneider.

“I was in a lot of toxic and chaotic, dysfunctional environments that I didn't recognize as such because I'd been used to that at home,” the author said. “I think until somebody's psychologically developed, they should not be allowed to go anywhere near Hollywood.”

In the book, she called “The Creator” a “mean-spirited, controlling and terrifying figure.”

“The Creator can tear you down and humiliate you,” she wrote. “I’ve seen him do this when he fired a six-year-old on the spot for messing up a few lines on a rehearsal day. And when a boom operator accidentally dropped the boom into a shot and The Creator stomped over to him and screamed in his face.”