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Kel Mitchell is praising fellow Nickelodeon alum, Jennette McCurdy, for releasing her shocking tell-all, “I’m Glad My Mom Died.”
“Everyone has a different story and the way that they want to tell their story and express themselves – and to get it out – that’s definitely important,” the 43-year-old told Page Six on Tuesday.
“I remember what she went through when her mom passed around that time,” the comedian recalled. “So [I love] hearing her tell her story and being courageous with that.”
According to McCurdy’s book, she was “exploited” as a child actress on Nickelodeon’s “iCarly” and “Sam & Cat,” which featured Mitchell. The 30-year-old said her overbearing mother and the television industry “failed to protect her,” according to the New York Times.
‘ICARLY’ STAR JENNETTE MCCURDY RIPS NICKELODEON: MY CHILDHOOD WAS ‘EXPLOITED’
Kel Mitchell (left) praised Jennette McCurdy for writing ‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’.
(Getty Images)
“My whole childhood and adolescence were very exploited,” McCurdy said. “…There were cases where people had the best intentions and maybe didn’t know what they were doing. And also cases where they did — they knew exactly what they were doing.”
At the age of 16, McCurdy was entering her third year on the hit teen sitcom “iCarly,” where she made millions of young viewers laugh by playing the comedic character, Sam Puckett.
In her book, which was published on Aug. 9, McCurdy wrote about embarrassing moments on the children’s television network when she was asked to be “photographed in a bikini during a wardrobe fitting and being encouraged to drink alcohol by an intimidating figure she simply calls the Creator.”
McCurdy pointed out that when her mother was present, she never interjected or instructed her daughter that this “was the price of showbiz success.”
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Jeanette McCurdy starred in ‘iCarly’ and ‘Sam & Cat’.
(Getty Images)
“Everyone wants what you have,” she allegedly told her daughter.
McCurdy also recounted auditioning for acting roles at the age of six and being “shepherded” into the work by her controlling mother. She also noted that she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders and anxiety. McCurdy believed she owed her loyalty to her mother, who controlled every aspect of her life.
After McCurdy starred in “iCarly,” Nickelodeon promised her a spinoff series of her own, but walked back on their offer and made Ariana Grande a co-lead on “Sam & Cat.”
McCurdy says she felt undermined by the network as they discouraged her from exploring other career opportunities outside the show. However, those rules did not seem to apply to Grande.
JENNETTE MCCURDY EXPLAINS WHY SHE WAS ‘JEALOUS’ OF ARIANA GRANDE: ‘MUCH EASIER UPBRINGING’
From left: Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande attends the UK Premiere of ‘Sam & Cat’ on October 12, 2013, in London.
(Photo by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images for Nickelodeon)
“What finally undid me was when Ariana came whistle-toning in with excitement because she had spent the previous evening playing charades at Tom Hanks’s house. That was the moment I broke,” McCurdy wrote.
“Sam & Cat” aired for only one season during 2013-2014, and after the show’s cancellation, Nickelodeon offered the former actress $300,000 to keep her experiences at the network private, McCurdy said. She refused the offer.
Despite “iCarly” star Miranda Cosgrove saying that she and McCurdy quickly became friends on the show, she was not completely aware of the challenges her friend faced in her life.
“When you’re young, you’re so in your own head,” Cosgrove told the New York Times. “You can’t imagine that people around you are having much harder struggles.”
‘ICARLY’ STAR JENNETTE MCCURDY RECALLS PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL ABUSE FROM MOTHER DURING CHILDHOOD
From left: Jennette McCurdy and Miranda Cosgrove attend the Nickelodeon 2008 upfront presentation at the Hammerstein Ballroom on March 13, 2008, in New York City.
(Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images for Nickelodeon)
Cosgrove noted, “You don’t expect things like that from the person in the room who’s making everyone laugh.”
Nickelodeon did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Giang-Paunon contributed to this report.
