I'm Glad My Mom Died, a memoir from actress and singer Jennette McCurdy, has a shocking title, but the destructive actions directed toward her by her late mother are even more shocking. "My mom emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me in ways that will forever impact me," McCurdy writes. At age six, she was pushed into an acting career she didn't want by her narcissistic mother, who was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer when Jennette was two. It would be a diagnosis her mother would use to emotionally manipulate everyone from casting directors to her four children. "Mom reminisces about cancer the way most people reminisce about vacations," writes McCurdy.
Her mother's control was staggering. She was still bathing her daughter and wiping her in public bathrooms when McCurdy was eight years old. When Jennette developed breasts at the age of 11, her mother taught her eating disorders to keep her small and thin. "The only thing worse than a cancer diagnosis is a growing-up diagnosis," McCurdy writes. Her fame, at age 15, after earning a costarring role on the Nickelodeon TV series iCarly, only worsened her mother's control issues and Jennette's "venomous self-loathing." After her mother's death, her downward spiral into alcoholism, anorexia, binge-and-purge bulimia and disastrous romantic relationships accelerated.
This is a brutally frank, no-holds-barred memoir that answers a lot of questions about why so many child stars end up miserable, broke or dead. McCurdy's hard-won victory over her demons will leave many readers exhausted, but her excellent writing will compel them to stay with her on her torturous journey. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant