iCarly is one of several great TV series set to return in the near future, and fans are overjoyed to see the old crew back again. Carly’s best friend Sam Puckett, played by Jennette McCurdy, is one of the familiar people they won’t see in the Paramount+ reboot. Many fans have been wondering why McCurdy will not be returning for the second series since the cast was officially confirmed. She recently spoke out about her time on Nickelodeon, admitting she’s “ashamed” of her past acting career.

On the season two premiere of her podcast Empty Inside, she discussed why she abandoned acting.

McCurdy confirmed that she had quit.

“I quit a few years ago because I initially didn’t want to do it,” she explained. “My mom put me in it when I was six and by sort of age, I guess, 10 or 11, I was the main financial support for my family. My family didn’t have a lot of money, and this was the way out, which I actually think was helpful in driving me to some degree of success.”

“My experience with acting is, I’m so ashamed of the parts that I’ve done in the past … I resent my career in a lot of ways,” McCurdy continued. “I feel so unfulfilled by the roles that I played and felt like it was the most cheesy, embarrassing…”

“I did the shows that I was on from, like, 13 to 21, and by 15 I was already embarrassed. My friends at 15 weren’t like, ‘Oh cool, you’re on this Nickelodeon show.’ It was embarrassing,” she said.

“And I imagine there’s a very different experience to be had with acting if you’re proud of your roles and if you feel fulfilled by them,” she added.

Jennette McCurdy has generally kept out of the spotlight since leaving Nickelodeon in 2014, and she has only appeared in a few films since then.

She played Sam Puckett on all six seasons of iCarly from 2007 to 2012, becoming a fan favorite in the process. McCurdy went on to star in the spinoff Sam & Cat when the sitcom ended. The series teamed her with Ariana Grande, who reprised her role as Cat Valentine from Victorious, another Nickelodeon sitcom. The program, however, only lasted one season and ended on a contentious note, with allegations circulating that McCurdy was having issues with Nickelodeon and Grande.

She also mentioned getting turned down for an audition for the 2005 film Because of Winn-Dixie when she was 10 years old because her agent claimed she was “homely” and not a “ethereal beauty.”

Esther Povitsky, McCurdy’s guest, asked her how she felt about being on such successful shows, asking, “Does that mean anything to you?”

Many fans of McCurdy from iCarly and Sam & Cat were undoubtedly startled by her response. “It’s the thing that I feel the most shame of in my entire life,” she explained. “I do not like any of the acting work, any of the projects I’ve been a part of as an actor.”

She continued, “Even talking about it, honestly, my heart starts to race and I feel like I almost could cry. I know that kids liked the shows and I think that’s great that they liked them, but for me, it was really hugely negative on my self-esteem and on my mental health. It’s a thing that kind of haunts me.”

She admitted that acting was usually tough for her, and she regularly struggled during auditions. She was frequently anxious, and while she was able to overcome this, the death of her mother subsequently changed her aspirations. “With her death kind of died a lot of her ideas for my life, and that was its own journey, and a difficult one for sure,” she explained.

Child stardom may be tough to deal with, and many would agree that it has its downsides. Unfortunately, Jennette McCurdy appears to have suffered more of the unpleasant side effects of it. While it’s unfortunate that she won’t be returning for the iCarly resurrection, it’s encouraging to learn that McCurdy has found a new interest and some type of consolation.