Jennette McCurdy Shares More Troubling Claims About Her Mom

The following article includes allegations of child abuse and sexual assault.

Jennette McCurdy is shedding more light on the physical and emotional abuse she allegedly experienced at the hands of her late mother. In August 2022, the "iCarly" star published her bombshell memoir, "I'm Glad My Mom Died," in which she reflected on her struggles as a child actor and her complicated relationship with her mother. In the book, McCurdy made several shocking claims about her mother, Debra McCurdy, who died of cancer in 2013 — from teaching her calorie restriction at the young age of 11 to giving her breast and vaginal exams in the shower until she was in her late teens, according to ET.

"She says she wants to make sure I don't have any mysterious lumps or bumps because those could be cancer. I say okay because I definitely don't want cancer, and since Mom's had it and all, she would know if I do," McCurdy writes in her book, adding that she would think of Disneyland while her mother completed the exams. "By the time the exams are done, a huge wave of relief washes over my whole body and I usually realize that's the first time I've felt my body since the exam started," she said. Now McCurdy is sharing even more troubling claims about her late mother nearly one year after the release of her controversial memoir.

On the July 10 episode of the "Louis Theroux Podcast," Jennette McCurdy elaborated further on the physical and sexual abuse she endured from her late mother Debra, including being forced to shower with her until was 17 or 18. She recalled to Theroux, "She would be in the shower with me, shampooing and conditioning my hair, washing my body. She would give me breast and vaginal exams in the shower and said that she was checking for lumps, she was just checking for cancer." Despite her mother being fully clothed in the shower, McCurdy said she felt uncomfortable and violated by her mother's actions. "I knew I didn't want it," she said. "But the one time I had attempted to even say, 'Hey, do you think I could shower myself?' She flew into hysterics and it just became clear to me. 'Oh, I can't ever try to shower myself again.'"

McCurdy said it wasn't until her mother battled breast cancer in 2013 that she was able to shower all by herself. Appearing on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast in 2022, the former Nickelodeon star admitted that she had a rough time processing her mother's physical abuse. "That was the hardest to write about [in my book]," she said. "I was just so resistant to it."

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.