Because Jennette McCurdy could not comprehend that her mother, Debra McCurdy, was behaving in an “abusive” manner, she frequently defended her mother during therapy sessions.
When I first started going to therapy, I still put my mother on a pedestal, and every time we talked about it, I felt protective right away. During the episode of The Drew Barrymore Show that was broadcast on Monday, Jennette, who is 30 years old, gave a pre-recorded interview.
The former cast member of iCarly shared that when she initially started going to therapy, she would rationalize why her mother would treat her in a specific way. McCurdy explained to Barrymore, “My first thought was, ‘Well, she did this, but it’s because she’s such a fantastic parent, it’s because she intended me to be great, it’s because she wanted me to have a decent future.
She said, “I was so protective; I didn’t even know that I was at the time, but in hindsight, I see that I was adamantly denying every damn detail that my mother did rather than just saying the reality or how I felt about it.” I was more concerned with figuring out how to preserve my mom’s appearance in good shape than conveying the genuine feeling I was experiencing.
Jennette continued, “It took me a long time to understand that my mother was not ideal, let alone violent.” She credited my therapy sessions with marking the beginning of her path toward acknowledging the reality of the anguish I’d hidden for ages.
After ending her career as a performer in 2017, the former Nickelodeon star gained attention again after publishing her memoir controversially titled, “I’m Glad My Mom Died.” In the book, she described the physical and emotional abuse she endured at the hands of her mother when she was a child.