I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Opening Note
Some books punch you in the gut. This one keeps its fist there the entire time. I’m Glad My Mom Died is not just a provocative title. It is a full-bodied scream, masked in wit, restraint, and brutal honesty. I picked it up thinking I knew what to expect: a celebrity memoir with sharp edges. What I got was a raw, unflinching excavation of childhood, control, trauma, and the jagged road to reclaiming one’s life.
Overview
In this memoir, Jennette McCurdy—former Nickelodeon child star—recounts her upbringing in a deeply dysfunctional household ruled by her mother’s emotional manipulation. From being pushed into acting at age six to battling eating disorders, shame, and identity loss, Jennette tells her story in clean, precise prose. The structure alternates between present-tense snapshots of her youth and reflective commentary as she begins to break free.
It is not a story of triumph in the traditional sense. It is a story of survival, grief, and painfully earned clarity.
Analysis & Reflection
What makes this memoir so impactful is its tone: unsentimental, even when the content is gut-wrenching. Jennette writes with a kind of dry, dark humor that does not deflect from the pain. It filters it. The emotional restraint makes the revelations hit even harder. It is as if she is handing you her truth in a plain paper bag, and when you finally open it, it detonates.
Her exploration of disordered eating, people-pleasing, and enmeshment is deeply resonant. There are no melodramatic crescendos. Just moments of quiet devastation. The manipulation by her mother is captured with disturbing clarity, particularly because it is wrapped in “love.” That emotional tension, the impossibility of hating someone who shaped your every breath, is what gives the book its aching core.
Broader Connections
This memoir joins the ranks of other painfully honest works like Tara Westover’s Educated or Stephanie Foo’s What My Bones Know, but it carries a unique edge thanks to McCurdy’s voice. Sharp, restrained, almost surgical. It is also a powerful counter-narrative to the glamorous child star myth, pulling back the curtain on the cost of forced fame.
If you have ever struggled with complicated grief, familial control, or the slow work of becoming your own person, this memoir will likely resonate. It is a personal story, yes, but its emotional terrain is disturbingly universal.
Critique
The only real critique I can offer is that the memoir’s structure, while effective in tone, can feel repetitive in parts. The short chapters mirror the clipped nature of memory, but sometimes I wanted a bit more air, to sit in certain moments longer. Still, that restraint is part of what makes it so powerful.
Closing Thought & Recommendation
I’m Glad My Mom Died is a book that does not just share trauma. It interrogates it. It is dark, yes. But it is also brave, clear-eyed, and, surprisingly, often funny in the bleakest way.
It is one of the few celebrity memoirs that reads like literature. Sharp, controlled, and emotionally resonant. Whether you have heard of McCurdy before or not, this book stands entirely on its own.
Rating: ★★★★★
Tags: Memoir, Trauma Recovery, Celebrity Narratives, Complicated Grief, Mental Health
Trigger Warnings: emotional abuse, eating disorders, death of a parent, body image issues, addiction
