iCarly star Jennette McCurdy has opened up about being offered “hush money” after Sam and Cat was axed from Nickelodeon.
TW: mentions abuse.
Jennette McCurdy is most well known for her role as the boisterous Sam Puckett in iCarly.
It was undoubtedly her first big breakthrough, after starting out her acting career at 8 years old on Mad TV.
By the age of fourteen, she had already starred in a whole host of tv shows, such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Malcolm in the Middle, Lincoln Heights, Will & Grace, and Zoey 101, just to name a few.
But it was her performance as Sam Puckett in the Nickelodeon TV series iCarly that really thrust her into the spotlight.
In 2008, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her work on the show…
And was later nominated for a 2009 Teen Choice Award in the Favorite TV Sidekick category for her role.
Despite all her accolades, it was never really McCurdy’s dream to become an actress.
In fact, she has revealed that she only carried on in the entertainment industry to satisfy her “controlling” mom.
The actress has publicly revealed that she suffered a lot of abuse at the hands of her mom, sharing her story in an interview with People magazine…
She said: “My mom’s emotions were so erratic that it was like walking a tightrope every day.”
According to McCurdy, her mom forced her into acting when she was 6 to help support her family, and because she wanted to be an actress herself.
She shared that her mom was “obsessed with making [her] a star.”
Things only got worse for McCurdy when she won the role of Sam in iCarly.
McCurdy has gone into detail about the goings on in her recent memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, which is out soon.
In her book, she shares devastating moments in her life where her mom forced her to carry on in the acting industry as a teen, despite her not wanting to.
As well as the abuse she went through as a teen on set.
She revealed that when she got the call back for iCarly aged fourteen…
“I jump into Mom’s arms. She squeezes me. I’m elated. Everything’s going to be different now. Everything’s going to be better. Mom will finally be happy. Her dream has come true.”
Little did she know, that was only the start of years of abuse at the hands of those she worked for.
According to the New York Times, McCurdy wrote that one of the most unsettling moments she can remember was the time she was photographed wearing a bikini during a fitting, sharing that someone she calls “the Creator” offered her alcohol.
And after confiding in her mom about the situation, she brushed it off…
Allegedly telling her: “Everyone wants what you have,” and that it’s just something that happens in Hollywood.
After her time on iCarly came to an end, she was offered the same role in Sam & Cat, alongside Ariana Grande.
And it was during this time she started noticing double standards between her and her co-stars. Particularly, she wasn’t allowed the same freedom to audition for other roles as those she worked with.
“What finally undid me was when Ariana came whistle-toning in with excitement because she had spent the previous evening playing charades at Tom Hanks’s house.
“That was the moment I broke,” she recalled.
“My whole childhood and adolescence were very exploited,” she told the New York Times.
“It still gives my nervous system a reaction to say it. There were cases where people had the best intentions and maybe didn’t know what they were doing. And also cases where they did — they knew exactly what they were doing.”
Finally, after Sam & Cat came to an end after just 1 season, McCurdy admitted she was offered, what she calls, “hush money.”
According to Vanity Fair, McCurdy claimed that after the show was canceled, she was informed that Nickelodeon was “offering [her] $300,000” and to “think of it like a thank-you gift.”
She said that one of her team members told her: “They’re giving you $300,000 and the only thing they want you to do is never talk publicly about your experience at Nickelodeon.”
After being told it was free money, McCurdy told her agent: “No it’s not. This isn’t free money. This feels to me like hush money… I’m not taking hush money.”
“What the f***? Nickelodeon is offering me $300,000 in hush money to not talk publicly about my experience on the show? My personal experience of The Creator’s abuse?” she wrote.
“This is a network with shows made for children. Shouldn’t they have some sort of moral compass? Shouldn’t they at least try to report to some sort of ethical standard?
“I lean back against the headboard of my bed and cross my legs out in front of me. I extend my arms behind my head and rest them there in a gesture of pride. Who else would have the moral strength? I just turned down $300,000.”
What do you think?