In a revealing February 2021 episode of her popular podcast Empty Inside, the talented iCarly alum, Jennette McCurdy, shared profound insights with guest Anna Faris. She disclosed her pivotal decision to step away from acting several years ago, pivoting her focus towards enriching opportunities in writing and directing. Alongside these creative pursuits, she dedicates her time to hosting her engaging podcast, where she explores personal narratives and industry experiences.

Jennette candidly expressed, “My experience with acting is, I’m so ashamed of the parts I’ve done in the past,” a sentiment she elaborates on in her 2022 memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died. She reflected on her feelings of resentment towards her career, stating, “I feel so unfulfilled by the roles that I played and felt like it was the most cheesy, embarrassing.” Having started her acting journey at a young age, she revealed that by age 15, she found herself embarrassed rather than celebrated, stating, “My friends at 15, they’re not like, ‘Oh, cool, you’re on this Nickelodeon show.’ It was embarrassing.”

However, Jennette has not completely dismissed the idea of a second act in her career. She shared with E! News in October 2022, “I do feel like only through writing the book have I gotten to a place where I think there might be a way of exploring acting that doesn’t carry that baggage that I carried with me for so long.” She expressed hope that writing something for herself could pave the way for re-engaging with acting on her own terms, stating, “Maybe if I write something for myself. I think that’d really be maybe one of the only ways I could kind of try exploring it again.”