Jennette McCurdy's mom showered with her until she was 18 years old
Topics: Celebrity
Gregory Robinson
Featured Image Credit: Taylor Hill / Contributor/Patrick McMullan / Contributor
Topics: Celebrity
Trigger warning: The article below contains themes of child abuse and eating disorders.
Jennette McCurdy is opening up about her mother's abusive and controlling behaviour, and says that her mother would shower with her until she was 18-years-old.
The former Nickelodeon star, 31, had previously shared the harrowing details from her childhood in her acclaimed memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, which was published last year.
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Now, the actor and author, best known for playing Sam Puckett in Nickelodeon sitcom iCarly, has spoken to Louis Theroux on his podcast about her experiences as a child star and her late mother's controlling behaviour.
McCurdy had previously said that her mother - Debra McCurdy - allegedly forced her to take showers with her teenage brother when she was 11.
And in her new interview with Theroux, McCurdy said that at 11-years-old, her mother urged her to start ‘calorie restriction’ when she approached her teen years so that she would continue to secure younger roles.
She said: “We partnered up to count our calories, she weighed me daily, she measured my thighs with a measuring tape, she taught me what diuretics were and we read calorie books together.”
McCurdy also shared the shocking details about how her mother was physically intrusive in inappropriate ways, explaining that she'd showered with her mother until she was 18-years-old, and she was ‘examined’ each time.
"So she showered me until I was 17-18," McCurdy tells Theroux.
When he asked if she meant her mum showered her, rather than showered with her, she said: "So 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, just checking for cancer.
"She would be clothed, but it was uncomfortable for me.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 and it just became clear to me. 'Oh, I can't ever try to shower myself again'. So, literally the only thing that got her to stop showering [with] me was that she was re-diagnosed with cancer when I was 18, and she had to have rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.
And I had to go on a music tour, she physically could not be with me and I think that's the only reason why I was able to start showering myself."
The Louis Theroux Podcast is available for free exclusively on Spotify here, with new episodes airing every Tuesday.
If you have been affected by the content about eating disorders in his article, or need further support, visit the BEAT website here.