Jennette McCurdy has detailed how her mother encouraged her to engage in disordered eating when she was 11 years old. The former Nickelodeon star, 31, previously said that her mother, Debra McCurdy, “explicitly” told her how to eat in a way that would delay puberty so that she could continue to land child roles and therefore support her family financially. In a new interview with Louis Theroux on his podcast, The Louis Theroux Podcast, the iCarly actor opened up about exactly what her mother would do to promote disordered eating. “We partnered up to count our calories, she weighed me daily, she measured my thighs with a measuring tape, she taught me what diuretics were and we read calorie books together,” she recalled. McCurdy said that, to her 11-year-old self, it “felt amazing” to be “partners in crime” with her mother, and Debra told her that it was a “secret we shouldn’t tell anyone”. “I thought that was great because it was like a secret code language, nobody else knows what we’re doing, we could nod to each other and know that we were in this together, and nobody would be part of this.” However, Debra’s tactics to keep her daughter’s calories under control led to an “arduous relationship with food” for McCurdy. McCurdy explained that she began acting when she was six years old and began booking more significant roles when she was 11. She recalled playing characters that were younger than her actual age because she looked younger, and how her mother “made it clear that that was really helpful because casting directors like to cast older kids to play younger roles”. The actor said that one day, she felt a “lump” on her chest area and went to her mother out of fear that it was cancer. Debra has been diagnosed with breast cancer when McCurdy was two years old and later recovered. “I always had this fear of cancer recurring for her, cancer for me… it was just a constant fear,” she explained. “She reached her hand up my shirt, felt the lump and said, ‘Oh, Netty, no, you don’t have cancer, you’re just getting boobies.’ “That was truly as horrifying to me because it meant growing up and it had always been really clear to me that my mum did not want me to grow up. Not just for acting, but it also felt like her worth was tied up in me being young. With me being young, she had something to do, she felt good, me growing up kind of felt like her loss of purpose.” McCurdy asked Debra what she could do to “stop” her breasts from growing, which is when she introduced her daughter to calorie restriction. Speaking about her mother’s own eating disorder, which she had had “for years”, McCurdy recalled that Debra began restricting her food intake at the age of 14 by eating “one donut a day”. “The idea that this was abuse, that this was unhealthy, I couldn’t go anywhere near the reality of it,” she said. “I kept clinging to, ‘Oh, mum’s doing this because it’s what’s best for me, it’s what’s best for my career, she clearly wants what’s good for me,’ and I think a part of her believed that she wanted me to have a better life than she had, but I don’t think she ever stopped to consider what that actually meant, what does that look like, what does my daughter want. “She just assumed that her dreams must be everyone’s dreams, because of narcissism, I guess.” In her 2022 memoir, I’m Glad My Mother Died, McCurdy opened up about the abusive childhood she endured at the hands of Debra, who died in 2013 after her breast cancer returned. During her interview with Theroux, she also revealed that her mother would shower her until she was “17 or 18” and would give her “breast and vaginal exams”. “She would give me breast or vaginal exams in the shower and said that she was checking for lumps – she was just checking for cancer,” she recalled. But when McCurdy voiced how “uncomfortable” the experiences were, her mother became “hysterical”. McCurdy grew up in California with Debra, her father Mark McCurdy, and her three older brothers, Dustin, Marcus and Scott. Her best-selling memoir led to a two-book deal with Penguin Random House’s Ballantine Books label. For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this piece, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. Visit eating-disorders.org.uk or call 0845 838 2040. Read More Nigella says extravagant dinner parties are a thing of the past – I wish she was wrong From Queen Camilla to Mary Berry: Who is in the Royal Box on the 10th day of Wimbledon? Kevin Costner ‘ordered to pay estranged wife $129k in monthly child support’, double his offer Children say ‘I’m bored’ 7 times a week – 7 ways to prevent it What are weight loss injections and what’s the controversy? What is group B strep? Charity says pregnant women ‘in the dark’

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Max Verstappen equalled Alain Prost’s tally of 51 victories with an emphatic triumph at the Mexican Grand Prix – as Sergio Perez’s home race came to a sorry end after just 14 seconds. Verstappen’s remarkable winning sequence, which now includes a record 16 in one season, continued in the breathless Mexico City air following two pulsating starts after Kevin Magnussen’s high-speed crash resulted in a reg flag at the midway stage of Sunday’s 71-lap race. Verstappen mastered both getaways to draw alongside four-time world champion Prost, with only Lewis Hamilton (103 wins), Michael Schumacher (91) and Sebastian Vettel (53) ahead of the all-conquering Dutchman in Formula One folklore. Hamilton impressed to finish runner-up, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Lando Norris drove from 17th to fifth, passing George Russell with four laps remaining on a strong afternoon for the Brit, in an event that Perez will want to forget. As Verstappen sliced through the middle of pole-sitter Leclerc, and his Ferrari team-mate Sainz on the 830 metre charge to the opening bend, 130,000 Mexican hearts sank when an over-eager Perez crashed into Leclerc. Perez, who started fifth, ran line astern with Leclerc and Verstappen as the trio stamped on the brakes from 200mph for the opening bend – and Perez, occupying the racing line, sensed his opportunity for glory. But his banzai move was badly misjudged. The 33-year-old turned into Leclerc, and was sent airborne before landing back on four wheels and spinning into the run-off area. Perez limped back to the pits but the damage sustained to his machine left his race in tatters. Perez banged his steering wheel with both hands in frustration. Children were left seeking comfort from their parents in the grandstands. Perez’s Red Bull mechanics attempted a quick fix to get their man back on track. But after a handful of laps they conceded defeat. Perez departed his Red Bull cockpit to watch team-mate Verstappen gallop to victory. Question marks hang over Perez’s future at Red Bull. He has one year to run on his deal, but the paddock is awash with rumours that he could be replaced next year. Daniel Ricciardo is mooted as a possible candidate, and Perez’s first-corner disaster – coupled with the Australian out-performing his modest AlphaTauri machinery to take the chequered flag in seventh in just his fourth comeback race, will do little to dampen the speculation. Perez last won a race in Azerbaijan on April 30, and his failure to finish at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez leaves his second place in the championship under threat from Hamilton. Indeed, the seven-time world champion reduced the gap from 39 points to 20 with his strong display. For Verstappen, this was his 32nd victory – remarkably the same tally double world champion Fernando Alonso has managed throughout his entire career – from his last 41 appearances, dating back to his controversial triumph over Hamilton in Abu Dhabi in 2021. Hamilton, who has not won a race during that period, crossed the line a close second to Verstappen in America a week ago before he was disqualified for running his Mercedes too close to the floor. He started sixth here, swiftly promoted one position after Perez’s crash. On lap 11 he blasted past Ricciardo for fourth. Verstappen gave up his lead on lap 19 after he stopped for new rubber, with Hamilton in five laps later. Then on lap 34, the race was suspended. Magnussen lost control of his Haas at 130mph through Turn 8. The Dane ended up in the wall following a suspected rear suspension failure. He swiftly emerged from his cockpit before his mangled machine caught fire. The safety car was deployed but with significant damage to the tyre barrier, repairs were required, and the race was halted, leading to a 22-minute delay. “That’s a joke,” complained Verstappen. “A red flag for what?” The drivers lined up on the grid for the second standing start of the afternoon with Hamilton the sole man in the top five on the quicker, medium rubber. But it was Verstappen who produced another scintillating getaway to leave the others trailing in his wake. He set about building his gap, with Hamilton intent on taking Leclerc for second, and on lap 40, he did just that following a bold and gutsy move. On the fastest straight of the year, Hamilton jinked to Leclerc’s right, dropping two tyres on to the turf and kicking up dirt at 225mph, before holding his nerve under braking for the first corner to make the move stick. The British driver nursed his tyres to finish runner-up to Verstappen, 13.8 sec back. Prost was 38 when he claimed his 51st and final win 30 years ago. 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