‘iCarly’ Star Jennette McCurdy Says She Resents Her Acting Career

iCarly star Jennette McCurdy discussed why she quit acting in a recent podcast episode, adding she resents her career, and that it was “detrimental” to her emotional wellbeing as a child.

McCurdy and actress Anna Faris talked about how they have often felt out of place in Hollywood and what it was like first breaking into the entertainment industry as a child in a recent “Empty Inside” podcast interview.

“I quit [acting] a few years ago to try my hand at writing and directing,” McCurdy said. “I quit a few years ago, because I initially didn’t want to do it. My mom put me in it when I was six, and by sort of age — I guess, 10 or 11 — I was the main financial support for my family.”

“And it was very much just the pressure of — my family didn’t have a lot of money — and this was kind of the way out,” she added. “Which I actually think was helpful in driving me to some degree of success, because I don’t think I would have been as ambitious if I didn’t know that it was for my family.”

McCurdy also said that auditioning for roles was very hard for her, as she felt intense anxiety every time.

“I ultimately quit after my mom passed away, because with her death kind of died a lot of her ideas for my life, and that was its own journey, and a difficult one for sure,” McCurdy added.

The iCarly star also mentioned that her experience with acting as a child was probably “detrimental” to her emotional wellbeing.

“For me, acting felt like I kind of had my own emotions on the back burner as a kid,” McCurdy said. “I think it was really detrimental to my own emotional wellbeing, because this character’s emotions were the priority, and also, I was always playing the sad, crying kid.”

“So it would be like, ‘Well, I don’t know what I’m actually feeling, but I guess I’m the child prostitute this week,'” she added.

“When I was ten years old, my mom was screaming on the phone with my agent about me not getting in for an audition for fucking Because of Winn-Dixie, and I literally hear [my agent] on speakerphone — ‘They want an ethereal beauty, Jennette is not an ethereal beauty, she is homely.'”

Overall, McCurdy said that her experience has led her to “resent my career in a lot of ways.”

After Faris asked her if she would ever consider returning to acting, McCurdy mentioned that she had written a one-woman show, which she ended up acting in, despite being anxious.

“So I did it just for that one show, but I think that one-woman show would be the most of it,” McCurdy said.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler @alana, and on Instagram.