NO SHELF CONTROL

Title: I’m Glad my Mom Died

Author: Jeanette McCurdy

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: August, 2022

Genre: Biography

Pages: 320

My Rating: ★★★★☆

The front of this book says “impressively funny” and the back “so funny”. I can tell you now, there is NOTHING funny about this book.
It’s utterly traumatic, in fact, and incredibly sad.
Mental health issues, eating disorders, toxic relationships and alcoholism feature throughout.

Jeanette never had a childhood, not a proper one. She was thrust in to the limelight and working world at age 6 and you can tell she never had a proper chance to grow up by her childish writing style throughout.
I felt her bitterness throughout the whole book and feel so sorry for her sadness. It’s utterly heart wrenching.

I’m not going to be one of those reviewers that says “I’m glad your mom died too” though. I feel if we’re going to be compassionate for Jeanette, we must also be compassionate for her mother.

Debra McCurdy was clearly mentally ill, but in my opinion, it seems she was trying to save Jeanette from living the life she did; struggling to pay the bills and ending up with a deadbeat “dad” to her kids. Jeanette was obviously talented, otherwise she wouldn’t have landed all those roles. Her mom recognised this and tirelessly fought for acting jobs, agents and conquered her fear of the freeway to take her to audition after audition. She told Jeanette she loved her over and over and she never gave up on her. I’m not sure she knew the damage she was causing to her child due to her own mental health. It sounds like her mom was pretty awful too.

What is most tragic, is why didn’t anyone around either of them get them psychiatric help? Her brothers? Her co-stars? Her agents? Her producers?
I feel they were both failed, not just Jeanette.

It should never have taken her so long to finally get the therapy she needed. I hope she continues to get better and that her adult years are happier than her start in life.

Hollywood may be filled with “pretty people”, but really, it is an ugly, ugly world.