Josh Peck thinks Jennette McCurdy is ‘incredibly brave’

The 35-year-old actor starred alongside Drake Bell in ‘Drake and Josh’ during his teenage years while Jennette, 30, became a teen idol through her role on fellow Nickelodeon sitcom ‘iCarly’ and could not wait to read her tell-all memoir ‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’ in which she speaks out about her struggles with childhood fame.

Josh told PageSix: “I think she is incredibly brave to tell her story and to be as honest as she is. I think one of her great talents is her wit and how thoughtful she is and as soon as I was able to pick up the book I did because I really wanted to see the way she told her story.”

Meanwhile, Jennette went on to co-star with pop singer Ariana Grande on ‘Sam and Cat’ and hopes that the ‘Thank U Next’ hitmaker also picks up a copy of the book.

She said: “I don’t know if [Ariana] will read the book or not but I think it’s a really entertaining read regardless of who you are, so I hope she does.”

Writing in her memoir, she said: “What finally undid me was when Ariana came whistle-toning in with excitement because she had spent the previous evening playing charades at Tom Hanks’s house. That was the moment I broke.”

The short film director also in the book that her late mother Debra – who died of cancer in 2013 – pushed her into showbusiness at a young age and can remember feeling that their relationship would improve once she had landed a starring role in ‘iCarly’ on Nickelodeon at the age of 14.

She writes: “Everything’s going to be better. Mom will finally be happy. Her dream has come true.”

Jennette – who also claims that she was offered a sum of $300,000 by the Nickelodeon network to keep quiet – also explained that her youth was “exploited” and while there may have been people around her with the “best intentions”, they weren’t always aware of what they were doing.

She said: “My whole childhood and adolescence were very exploited. It still gives my nervous system a reaction to say it. There were cases where people had the best intentions and maybe didn’t know what they were doing. And also cases where they did — they knew exactly what they were doing.”

‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’ is out now.