I loved iCarly. So fun and not remotely possible. The formula for all the best kids shows. And of course my favorite character was the gruff but lovable Sam Puckett. So why wont Sam be joining Miranda Cosgrove (Carly) and the others in a reunion on Nickelodeon?
According to Jennette McCurdy, who played the no nonsense teen, she was always embarressed to be Sam and she wont be returning. Speaking on her podcast, Empty Inside, the 28 year old explained.
“I’m so ashamed of the parts I’ve done in the past, and I get that this answer is super unlikable,” McCurdy told Faris on Empty Inside. “I resent my career in a lot of ways. I feel so unfulfilled by the roles that I played and felt like it was the most cheesy, embarrassing [thing]. I did the shows that I was on from like, 13 to 21, and by 15, I was already embarrassed.”
But it’s more than that. Jennette was forced into acting by her mother when she was 6. She did various one off rolls on shows like SVU and Will & Grace, but when she found success with iCarly, she realized the whole family was depending on her.
“My mom put me in it when I was 6 and by sort of age, I guess, 10 or 11, I was the main financial support for my family.”
“And it was very much the pressure of my family [not having] a lot of money, and this was the way out,” she continued. “Which I actually think was helpful in driving me to some degree of success, because I don’t think I would have been as ambitious if I didn’t know that it was for my family.”
Jennette’s mother passed away a few years ago and that’s when she left the business.