The 2014 film Nightcrawler starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou, a ruthlessly ambitious young stringer who sells footage of grisly deaths to news stations, racing over the streets of Los Angeles to be first on the scene. The more risky, parasitic, and depraved his actions, the greater the financial rewards, culminating in Lou starting his own lucrative business. Director Dan Gilroy has called Nightcrawler “a success story” about what it takes to make it in America. The film’s message is simple and powerful: capitalism rewards psychopathy.

Dissimilar though the material may be, that also happens to be the message of former child actor Jennette McCurdy’s new memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died. McCurdy rose to fame on the show iCarly, a popular children’s sitcom that ran on Nickelodeon for six seasons starting in 2007. The memoir centers on McCurdy’s relationship with her mother, who, in McCurdy’s account, is every bit as ruthless as Lou in Nightcrawler — except instead of selling crime scene footage, she focused her efforts on making McCurdy famous. McCurdy recalls her mother’s words to her as a six-year-old: “You’re gonna be a star, Nettie. I just know it. You’re gonna be a star.” Those weren’t empty words. They were a verbal contract.

McCurdy grew up poor in Garden Grove, California, home primarily to “white trash” as her brother put it. Her family suffered from what her mom called the “curse of the minimum wage,” with family members working low-paying jobs at places like Disneyland and Home Depot. Throughout her early years, McCurdy lived in a house that her parents rented from her dad’s parents. She recalls thinking, “This house is an embarrassment. This house is shameful. I hate this house.”