Featured Image Credit: Red Table Talk/Facebook Watch/ Nickelodeon
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity, US News, Parenting, Money
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity, US News, Parenting, Money
**Content warning: Contains descriptions of inappropriate and abusive behaviour towards children.**
Jennette McCurdy has opened up about Nickelodeon allegedly offering her $300,000 to not speak out about her experience on the iCarly set.
In her memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died, the 31-year-old alluded to being mistreated by a member of the team of Nickelodeon TV sitcom iCarly - who she calls 'The Creator'.
McCurdy has since claimed she was offered $300,000 (£230,000) by the channel to keep quiet about the person in question and her experiences on set.
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On the sixth episode of Louis Theroux's Spotify podcast, McCurdy opened up about the environment on set.
McCurdy told Theroux: "I will say the environment I was in for making children's television shows was undeniably toxic and aspects of it were undeniably abusive. And I don't think I realized it because those were the environments where I spent most of my time.
"I knew that sets beforehand had felt somewhat different [...] there'd been a different vibe, but I'd certainly been on tense set environments before, but it was just by far the most intense, the most extreme.
"And afterwards I really realised how unhealthy it was."
McCurdy was also asked by Theroux about speculation online surrounding the identity of 'The Creator' as being iCarly creator Dan Schneider .
Schneider has been subject to a series of accusations from stars who have worked with him, including former Zoey 101's Alexa Nikolas who accused the screenwriter of sitting in on her costume fittings when she was just 12 years old, as well as allegedly taking photographs of child actor's feet - Schneider later responding to the rumours about him as being 'ridiculous'.
Not confirming The Creator's identity, McCurdy notes: "I had a lot of friends on Disney Channel shows - I was on Nickelodeon - and it seemed like everyone kind of knew of the Creator.
"Everyone new rumors about him, everybody seemed to know the kind of sets that he ran."
According to McCurdy, The Creator had a 'knack for finding people who had a people-pleasing instinct that really wanted to do well'.
The 31-year-old claims people ended up working 'way more hours than they should' just to keep The Creator happy.
Despite her body's physical reaction to feeling uncomfortable, on edge and 'tensing up' McCurdy reflects she was also just 'so focused on pleasing' the Creator.
"And doing a good job and getting whatever opportunities I could, you know, per my mom's wishes," she says.
But what did McCurdy do when Nickelodeon allegedly offered her $300,000 to keep quiet and not publicly speak out 'in any way' about her experiences on set?
The 31-year-old reflects how 'nasty' and 'gross' it felt.
"The way I see it now is like I think it was just moral righteousness. And then sort of almost instantly after saying though I'm not taking the money, I felt like that's a lot of money," she reflects.
By the point McCurdy was offered the money, the Creator 'wasn't able to talk directly to actors' on set she says, positioned in a soundproof room watching actors on monitors instead.
The author resolves: "[I] think they were just worried about something getting out.
"I think it was to the point where it was enough. People knew about this - there was enough speculation, there were enough people who had been in the presence of it that I think they were just like, 'We got to do something about this'."
UNILAD has contacted Nickelodeon for comment.
The Louis Theroux Podcast is available for free exclusively on Spotify here, with new episodes airing every Tuesday.