Jannette McCurdy, who shot to fame thanks to Nickelodeon's iCarly, really got people talking when her revealing selfies made the rounds online last March.
It looks like McCurdy's stirring things up again, this time with a recent Reddit post where she explained and insisted that she is "Not a role model." The lengthy rant penned by McCurdy herself said that, "I am not a role model. I don't claim to be, I don't try to be, and I don't want to be."
She also wrote, "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."
"But in order to be thought of as a real, true role model, I believe you have to know a person and their actions, inside and out. 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." She continued, "It's good to have heroes, but you have to look for them in the right places. They say don't look for true love in a bar, well I say, don't look for role models on screens."
Addressing the racy photos of herself that were leaked online, McCurdy also added on Reddit, "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."
The post on Reddit comes just a few weeks after Nickolodeon announced the cancellation of McCurdy's teen sitcom, Sam & Cat, a crossover spin-off to iCarly and Victorious. Alongside McCurdy, the show also starred Ariana Grande. Sam & Cat ran for just one season and aired its last episode on July 17, despite the very good ratings it received.
Deadline reported that rumors circulated about discord on the set, with emotions running high and McCurdy and Grande sometimes showing up late. The report also added that McCurdy had been going through a difficult time in her personal life, having to deal with the leak of her racy photos, while Grande's music career took off. It also said that both are entering adulthood, and the word is both were feeling constrained at kids-focused Nickolodeon and are ready to move on.
Replying to a Reddit commenter on her post, McCurdy said, "Yes, I left Nickelodeon recently because I needed to move forward with my life."
