It's been a week after Nickelodeon's ratings hit teen-oriented show Sam & Cat went off air, but it looks like one of its leads, Jennette McCurdy still has a lot to say about the cancellation. On July 24, the iCarly alum took to social networking service and entertainment website reddit to share her thoughts and defend her decisions regarding the show.
"I am not a role model," she muses in an essay uploaded to reddit. "I don't claim to be, I don't try to be, and I don't want to be. There was a time when I tried to live up to the aggrandizing title, that pedestal of a thing. Maybe it wasn't so much that I was trying to live up to it. Perhaps I thought I could and I thought I was supposed to, so I gave it my best shot."
McCurdy, 22, was wrought with a lot of scandals before the network finally decided to kill the iCarly and Victorious mashup. First, she was reportedly in bad terms with co-star Ariana Grande, and had fought with the network over salary issues (allegations spread that McCurdy was being paid less than Grande). She also met trouble when racy pics of her leaked online.
"Back in my adolescence, I was more amiable, bubbyly and on lightly humid days, maybe even flouncy," she continued to write on the website. "I was role model material and then some."
And now that she's older, McCurdy isn't any wiser, "but I like to think I'm more honest."
She writes, "With the growing I've done, I realize that to attempt to live up to the idea of being a role model is to set myself up for foregone failure. Sure, I've made some mistakes, but even if I hadn't, people would have found invisible ones. This world is one seemingly most keen on judgment and negativity, despite all the hearts and smiley emoticons."
The actress continues, "To remove myself from the role model battle, the falsified standard set by the bubblegum industry, is - in my eyes - to remove myself from the counterintuitive battle of attempting to be something perfect while being glaringly aware of my imperfections."
And while McCurdy still appreciates teddy bears and has a soft spot for American Girl dolls, a cute dress and a vanilla scented candle, she says, "these things don't define me or determine that I am any kind of a role model. What defines a person as a role model is the way they live their life. And no offense, but none of you know how I live my life."
McCurdy also confirmed the rumors that she is no longer part of the Nickelodeon family. "I left Nickelodeon recently because I needed to move forward with my life," she replied to a fan's question of whether she would still stick with Nickelodeon for a future acting project.
She also addressed the issue of her recent photo scandal. "I post to social media when I want to and how I want to and I would whether I was in the entertainment industry or not. I don't believe people should attack me because their image of me is destroyed after I post a harmless, sultry photo. I don't believe an actor/actress should lose the rights to be themselves in an attempt to cater to the image that was created by a character they played. that's all."
"Nothing about an adult woman taking a sultry picture and being proud of a body she worked hard for should equal 'Miley Cyrus,' imo. I'm not riding giant inflatable dicks. (And if she wants to, so be it!) ... Moreover, I'm literally wearing more than most bathing suits nowadays in any 'nekkid and provocative' picture that has been seen of me."
To end her essay, McCurdy appealed to fans to look for their own models in the right places, instead of tv screens.
"Calling a celebrity a role model is like calling a stranger a role model. The knowledge you have of a celebrity is no more than a caricature drawn by media tastemakers specializing in selling you an image you're dying to buy. It's good to have heroes, but you have to look for them in the right places," she wrote. "They say don't look for true love in a bar, well I say, don't look for role models on screens."
"For those of you who do consider me a role model, I hope you don't read this and cringe. I appreciate you. I appreciate you so much! I appreciate that you believe in me, support me, and in some way, hope to live your life like me," acknowledged the True Jackson star. "But please, I encourage you to find role models in the people around you, the people in your everyday life, the people that are your friends and family. I encourage you to base your idea of a role model off of someone you know well enough to see purely, not in the light, cameras, and actions of Hollywood."
