Jennifer Aniston will executive produce and star in a new Apple TV+ series inspired by Jennette McCurdy’s 2022 memoir, “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” the streaming service announced July 1.
The 10-episode dramedy will be adapted by McCurdy, who will also executive produce and act as a showrunner alongside Ari Katcher (“Ramy,” “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show”).
The former “iCarly” star’s memoir details her struggles as a child actor in the mid-2000s while living with her abusive mother.
Though McCurdy portrayed the spirited and wisecracking Sam Puckett on “iCarly,” her life behind the scenes was dominated by debilitating anxiety and a strained relationship with her mother, who forced her into show business, according to her memoir.
The TV adaptation of the book “will center on the codependent relationship between an 18-year-old actress in a hit kid’s show, and her narcissistic mother who relishes in her identity as ‘a starlet’s mother,’” set to be played by Aniston, the streaming service said.
Aniston currently collaborates with Apple TV+ on “The Morning Show.” The Emmy-winning drama will return for a fourth season on Sept. 17.
In October 2022, McCurdy told TODAY.com she wrote “I’m Glad My Mom Died” because she believed her story was “worth sharing.” She also wanted to help readers heal from their own difficult childhoods.
“I felt compelled to write it,” said McCurdy, now 33. “I think that’s often the case with anybody who is in the arts, that once you feel compelled to do something, you just have to.”
Writing down her story was therapeutic for McCurdy, she told TODAY.com, and it allowed her to finally miss her mother without “complicated grief of anger.”
“She didn’t deserve for me to miss her because she was so abusive,” McCurdy said. “But now, I’m able to just have moments where I miss her, and I think it’s because of the massive healing that happened through therapy and ultimately through the validation of this book and other people sharing their stories with me.”
