Jennette McCurdy on Red Table Talk.Photo: Red Table Talk/Facebook Watch
Jennette McCurdyis opening up about her years of suffering from eating disorders she learned from her mother.
On Wednesday’s episode of Facebook Watch’sRed Table Talk, McCurdy, 30, reflected on her childhood stardom from Nickelodeon’siCarlyand how shebattled disordered eating for years, including anorexia, binge eating and bulimia.
The former actress admitted that it was her late mother,Debra McCurdy, who introduced her to an unhealthy relationship with food, explaining to hostsJada Pinkett Smith,Willow SmithandAdrienne Banfield Norristhat her mom abused her physically and mentally before she died of breast cancer in 2013.
“I feel for anybody who relates to this. It’s quite unfortunate, but my mom taught me anorexia. She taught me calorie restriction when I was 11,” McCurdy said on the show. “I had felt a lump in my breast that I thought was, ‘Oh, well, my mom had cancer, so I’m probably getting cancer.‘And she said,‘No, Net, that’s just boobies’And I said,‘Well, can I stop boobies from happening? I don’t want boobies. I don’t want to grow up.'”
“We were just in the disease, in the sickness. But there was a connection that the sickness created that I, of course, couldn’t see at the time,” she said.
Red Table Talk
McCurdy explained that she also often felt conflicted because at home, her mother was encouraging weight loss and minimal eating while at work, she was portraying Sam Puckett oniCarly, a character obsessed with food.
“It was so confusing at the time. Being caught up in anorexia or binge-eating disorder or bulimia and then, while playing this character who’s slinging a fried chicken leg and beating people with a ham sandwich,” she said in the episode. “It felt like my life was mocking me in a lot of ways, and it was really difficult.”
The Facebook Watch original seriesRed Table Talkreturns with a premiere episode featuring Jennette McCurdy on Wednesday at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET. New episodes stream weekly.
If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, please contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or go to NationalEatingDisorders.org.
source: people.com
