Jennifer Aniston to star in Apple TV+ project based on Jennette McCurdy’s memoir
Jennifer Aniston is to star in a new Apple TV+ series based on child actor Jennette McCurdy’s best-selling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died.
On July 1st, it was announced that Aniston would star in the all-important role of McCurdy’s mother in the new series. McCurdy had an extremely complicated relationship with her parent, who somewhat forced her into acting from an extremely young age and kept vigil surveillance over her daughter even after she grew up.
The star of iCarly, McCurdy, published her memoir on August 9th, 2022, by Simon & Schuster. It spent over 80 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. Following this success, McCurdy and film producer Ari Katcher wrote the 10-episode comedy-drama series for Apple TV+. They will act as co-showrunners and will executive produce the series alongside Aniston.
In the book, McCurdy describes her mom, among many other things, a “narcissist”, writing, “That pedestal [I put her on] kept me stuck, emotionally stunted, living in fear, dependent, in a near constant state of emotional pain and without the tools to even identify that pain let alone deal with it. My mom didn’t deserve her pedestal. She refused to admit she had any problems, despite how destructive those problems were to our entire family.”
A statement revealed that the newly written show will centre around the “codependent relationship” between a young female actor in a popular kids’ show and her “narcissistic mother.” Apple has also disclosed that McCurdy’s character will be 18, despite the novel spanning three decades of her life. No casting has been announced for the child star.
The memoir hit the headlines for other reasons, too. Alongside heartbreaking personal accounts of toxic and abusive relationships and eating disorders, McCurdy detailed how uncomfortable she felt when working with Nickelodeon mogul Dan Schneider, Sam and Cat. McCurdy felt Schneider had assaulted her from an early age and also explained how controlling he could be, demanding too much from his actors whenever they were delivering a scene.
This will be Aniston’s second collaboration with Apple TV. She also stars in The Morning Show, which she also executive produces. The show’s fourth season is set to premiere on September 17th.
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