Jennette McCurdy doesn't think she's a role model—or at least, not anymore. The Nickelodeon star went on a lengthy rant about not wanting fans to look up to her via Reddit on Thursday, July 24.
"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. 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," the actress, whose series Sam & Cat was recently cancelled after one season, said.
"It's fine, I can admit it. Back in my adolescence, I was more amiable, bubbly, and on lightly humid days, maybe even flouncy. I was role model material and then some," she continued. "Fast forward a few years, I've grown up a bit (emphasis on 'a bit'). I might not be any wiser, but I like to think I'm more honest."
Controversy has followed McCurdy during her time on the Nickelodeon series. The star made headlines when racy lingeries pictures of herself leaked in March. The following month, she slammed rumors that the series was coming to an end due to tension between she and costar Ariana Grande.
Clearly, McCurdy has grown up a lot while in the spotlight. "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," she wrote. "This world is one seemingly most keen on judgment and negativity, despite all the hearts and smiley emoticons. 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."
"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 added. "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."
McCurdy admitted that she still loves her teddy bears and even her American Girl dolls, but what defines a person as a role model is how they live their life. "And no offense," she wrote, "but none of you know how I live my life."
