Former Nickelodeon child star Jennette McCurdy says her mum showered with her until she was eighteen years old.
Now aged thirty-one, the former iCarly star has opened up about the abuse she experienced at the hands of her mother, who died in 2013.
Earlier this year, she released her memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, where she opens up about her career as a child actress and her complicated relationship with her mum.
More recently, McCurdy was a guest on The Louis Theroux Podcast, where she revealed that her mum showered with her until she was ‘seventeen or eighteen years old’.
“She would give me breast and v***nal exams in the shower and said that she was checking for lumps, she was just checking for cancer,” she said.
“I knew it felt violating for me. And I knew I didn’t want it, but the one time I had attempted to even say, ‘Hey, do you think I could shower myself?’ she flew into hysterics,” McCurdy explained, adding that as a result it “became clear” that she would not try to shower alone again.
She explained her reasoning for why her mum did what she did: “I think it’s the fear of me growing up. It’s body monitoring.”
She continued: “It had always been really clear to me that my mom did not want me to grow up, not just for acting, but it also felt like her worth was tied up in me being young.
“With me being young, she had something to do. She felt good. Me growing up kind of felt like her loss of purpose.”
McCurdy suffered from anorexia and bulimia, and has discussed how her mum controlled her diet and weight.
“She weighed me daily, and she measured my thighs with a measuring tape. She taught me what diuretics were, and we would read calorie books together and constantly were just in this, kind of as partners in crime, and it felt amazing,” she said.
Reflecting on the situation now, the former actress describes the situation as “warped”, and now describes herself as “fully recovered” from her eating disorders.
If you are in the UK and are experiencing a mental health problem, you can call SANEline on 0300 304 7000 (4.30pm–10.30pm every day).
