Jennette McCurdy on 'Red Table Talk': recalls 'shameful' upbringing, last conversation with her mom

close

Video

Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for September 6

Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines are here.

Jennette McCurdy is detailing early moments of her life, as well as the last conversation she had with her mother, Debra.

The "iCarly" star, who is promoting her book "I'm Glad My Mom Died," appeared on Wednesday's episode of "Red Table Talk" and detailed the abuse she received from her mother to Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Norris.

"With moms, there seems to be a need to keep them up on a pedestal," McCurdy shared with the group. "And I had my mom on that pedestal, and it was really detrimental to my mental health."

Jennette McCurdy detailed the abuse she experienced from her mother on an episode of "Red Table Talk."  ( (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage))

She began her interview the same way she began her memoir, detailing her upbringing and the condition of her living arrangements at the age of just two alongside her three brothers. McCurdy shared that their house had a rat and possum problem due to her mother’s hoarding habits.

JENNETTE MCCURDY RECALLS HER MOM SAYING SHE WAS ‘ALL USED UP’: ‘WHAT HAPPENED TO MY GOOD LITTLE GIRL?’

"I remember a time when [my brothers] Marcus, Dustin and Scott slept in their trundle bunk bed and I slept in my nursery, but now our bedrooms are so filled with stuff that you can’t even determine where the beds are let alone sleep in them," she read from her book.

"We don’t sleep in our beds anymore. Trifold mats were purchased from Costco for us to sleep on in the living room. I’m pretty sure the mats were meant for kids’ gymnastics exercises."

Jennette McCurdy detailed the horrific things her mother said to her in her book "I'm Glad My Mom Died" and shared them again on the "Red Table Talk" program. (Alexandra Wyman/WireImage)

McCurdy then shared her thoughts on her childhood home, calling it an "embarrassment" and "shameful" before sharing that she "hates this house."

The "Sam & Kat" star also discussed her struggle with anorexia and said her mother was the one who taught her how to be anorexic and introduced calorie restrictions at age 11.

JENNETTE MCCURDY EXPLAINS WHY SHE WAS 'JEALOUS' OF ARIANA GRANDE: 'MUCH EASIER UPBRINGING'

McCurdy, who was raised Mormon, also shared that her mother bathed her then 16-year-old brother, Scott, and herself, 11 at the time, together, which made them both "embarrassed."

"We usually just look away from each other and Scott distracts himself by drawing Pokémon on the fogged glass," McCurdy read from her memoir. "He does a pretty good job."

Jennette McCurdy starred alongside Miranda Cosgrove in the Nickelodeon show "iCarly." ((Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images for Nickelodeon))

McCurdy noted that her older brother asked to shower himself, which resulted in tears from their mother who did not want their children to grow up.

"Whether or not Scott is there with me, mom gives me a breast and a front/butt exam, which is what she calls my private parts. She says she wants to make sure I don’t have any mysterious lumps or bumps because those could be cancer," she read aloud.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

McCurdy shared at the "Red Table" that despite the uncomfortable position her and her brother were put in, they continued to share a "very beautiful bond." 

She said that she started hating being famous at 16, but "despised it" by the time she turned 21. "Millions of people dream of being famous and here I am with fame and hating it."

McCurdy detailed her time on "iCarly" and said, "I’m cemented in people’s minds as the person I was when I was a kid. A person I feel like I’ve far outgrown, but the world won’t let me outgrow it. The world won’t let me be anyone else. The world only wants me to be Sam Puckett."

Toward the end of the sit-down interview, McCurdy shared the last conversation she had with her mother before she died. She said that her mom was "detached behind the eyes" as she laid in a hospice bed in the middle of their living room.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

McCurdy shared that her and her brothers attempted to share their "good news" with their mother in an attempt to "wake her up" from the fog-like state she was in. 

"I said, ‘Mommy, I’m so skinny right now,’ like the thing that I felt like was the most that I had to offer was my thinness. In my core, at that time, I believed that that would get my mother to wake-up. I believed that she cared more about my body and my weight than she did about anything else that could possibly be uttered by my brother’s mouths."

The "Red Table Talk" episode released on Wednesday.