McCurdy was notably absent from the iCarly revival series, instead announcing she was stepping away from acting and penning her bestselling memoir ‘I’m Glad My Mom Died.’
Miranda Cosgrove and Jennette McCurdy hit fame together, standing side-by-side as best friends on Nickelodeon’s iCarly from 2007 to 2012. Just kids when they first met, McCurdy was notably — and vocally — absent when the series was brought back for three more seasons on Paramount+ in 2021.
Instead, McCurdy opened up about her struggles growing up in the spotlight, and spoke her truth to her mother’s alleged abuses and power over her in her bestselling 2022 memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died. So was their bad blood between the co-stars then — or now?
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In a new interview with People, Cosgrove says that the young stars of the blockbuster show, which also included Nathan Kress, “had each other” as their worlds were turned upside down. “I’ll always love them, and they’ll always be family to me, because we grew up together for so many years,” she added.
With their fame reaching unexpected proportions at such a young age — Cosgrove was just 14 when the show started — she said that while she was “bummed” when she had to switch to homeschooling, it wasn’t as bad because she felt “really lucky” as she was able to do it with her new best friends.
While Cosgrove and Kress were stepping back into the roles that made them famous, alongside Jerry Trainor as Carly’s (Cosgrove) older brother, McCurdy was opening up about how her mother handled her growing stardom.
The role of parents in their child stars’ lives has been scrutinized for years, with many disturbing stories coming to the forefront from former child stars like McCurdy, Macaulay Culkin, Ariel Winter, Drew Barrymore, and more.
“It’s like an adult job in an adult world, and a kid’s in it. That makes it really strange,” Cosgrove told People. “So many kids end up acting since their parents wanted them to do it, and I think that’s where it gets really messy and complicated because then it’s way more about the parent than it is the child.”
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Cosgrove took some time away from the spotlight, with her parents’ support, and made a conscious effort to explore other areas that might spark her excitement when she enrolled at the University of Southern California to study psychology. She said she was “trying to find something else that I was really interested in or passionate about.”
For her, though, it didn’t happen, though she’s still grateful for the experience, “because I think I would’ve always wondered if there was something else.”
While she didn’t find another passion to pursue, Cosgrove said that McCurdy did. Sharing her story in her own words sparked something in her, with Cosgrove saying her former co-star “found that thing in writing.”
She added that it’s “amazing, because her path led her to the thing that she loves. So I’m really happy for her.”
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Cosgrove insisted that despite McCurdy’s public resistance to returning for the iCarly sequel series, the pair’s strong friendship was never impacted. Instead, it evolved even as they became adults.
She said that while they don’t get to “hang out” like they used to, “I always know she’s out there, and that if I really needed her I could call her, and I hope she knows the same … I’m always going to be cheering for her.”
McCurdy is stepping even more fully into her passion with the announcement of her debut novel, Half His Age, which is slated for a 2026 release. On top of that, Jennifer Aniston has been tapped to produce and star as the titular mother in an Apple TV+ series adaptation of I’m Glad My Mom Died.
Cosgrove, meanwhile, is continuing her Hollywood dreams by starring in and producing the upcoming Netflix romantic comedy The Wrong Paris, dropping September 12.
