Jennette McCurdy has revealed all about her “addictive” romance with a much older man as a teenager in a candid new interview.
The former Nickelodeon star told listeners of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast on Wednesday that she was 17 or 18 when she started a relationship with a man in his mid-30s whom she met on the set of “iCarly.”
The 33-year-old wrote about the “creepy” relationship in her 2022 memoir, I’m Glad Mom Was Dead, but declined to reveal the person’s identity, but detailed how he wooed her.
McCurdy recalled that her co-workers “were hanging out in the writer’s room after work.”
“He showed me movies he thought I liked, like Dazed and Confused. I didn’t like them, but I pretended to like them. He played me music that I didn’t like, but I pretended to like.”
The “Sam & Cat” alum says she now feels age-gap relationships are “stupid,” but pointed out that the man had a girlfriend he was living with at the time.
“[I]got the money for these 30 minutes[of his time]and I had to be at his mercy. If he called, I’d go. … It was just exhausting,” she explained, adding that the “perverse” man only considered ending his relationship with his partner when McCurdy stated “I can’t do it anymore.”
At this vague stage, the man, while “fully inebriated”, requested oral sex.
McCurdy said, “I didn’t know what it was. … I was like, ‘This seems kind of weird. I’m nervous to do this,’ and he was like, ‘I’ll guide you.'” He is.
“Something squirted in my mouth and I was like, ‘What was that? Did he pee in my mouth? What the hell happened?'” she continued of the “uncomfortable” and “difficult” encounter. “He explained it to me. That was like my gateway to real sex.”
The former child star described herself as “Mormon and homeschooled” and said she planned not to have “sex before marriage” because she didn’t feel “mature” or “ready.”
The couple had a “very high school” dynamic in the months leading up to the blowjob, with “dry humping…and a lot of making out,” but a “subtle power dynamic” kept the relationship going.
“There were phrases like, ‘I’m a man in my mid-30s and this is what I need. I respect your boundaries about not having sex before marriage, but I also have my own needs,'” she recalled.
“I ended up having sex with him,” the actress continued. “I ignored the rules I set for myself.”
McCurdy called their intimacy “addictive.”
The relationship ended when his mother, Debra McCurdy, died in 2013, but the two reconciled “for a moment” afterwards.
Jennette reflected on the experience while writing her novel “Half His Age,” which will be published on January 13th.
“Writing is my way of ending past experiences,” she said. “I didn’t realize how angry I was still. I wasn’t thinking about this person I was dating at all. He wasn’t on my mind. And I’m writing this book…because I have so much anger and so much left to process.”
Elsewhere on Wednesday’s episode, Jennette spoke out about her late mother, detailing her abuse in a shocking memoir.
When asked how she feels about Debra now, Jennette said, “Sometimes I get lonely when she’s gone. I think that’s a credit to me.”
She admitted that although her late parents “left her with a lot to understand,” she “doesn’t feel angry towards her anymore.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
