Nightmare at Nickelodeon? In her August 2022 memoir, Jennette McCurdy opened up about her experience filming the series Sam & Cat with Ariana Grande.
“What finally undid me was when Ariana came whistle-toning in with excitement because she had spent the previous evening playing charades at Tom Hanks’ house,” McCurdy recalled in an excerpt from I’m Glad My Mom Died, per The New York Times. “That was the moment I broke.”
The iCarly alum’s tell-all book, which details her experience being pushed into show business by her late mother, Debra McCurdy, is slated to be released on August 9.
According to the Nickelodeon alum, the network didn’t allow her to pursue other opportunities during her time on Sam & Cat — a stricture that didn’t apply to Grande. While the show was on the air from 2013 to 2014, the “Positions” singer pursued her music career, releasing her debut album Yours Truly in August 2013. Grande’s singing career only skyrocketed from there.
Jennette also alleges in the book that she was offered $300,000 not to publicly discuss her experience at Nickelodeon — a proposal she says she declined.
The spinoff of Victorious and iCarly was put on a production hiatus in April 2014, one month after the True Jackson, VP actress decided not to attend the Kids’ Choice Awards amid reports that Grande was receiving a significantly higher salary than her. The “Dangerous Woman” singer denied the rumors via Twitter.
“Jennette and I agreed upfront that we would be treated equally on this show in all regards (as we should be, considering we each work just as hard as the other on this show),” Grande wrote at the time.
She continued, “The rumors circulating about our contracts and our salary not being equal are absolutely ridiculous and false. I don’t know who’s putting these idiotic quotes out there but I thought I’d straighten it out and try to end this nonsense.”
In July of that year, Nickelodeon announced that Sam & Cat had been canceled after one season.
“Nickelodeon will not be producing more episodes of Sam & Cat. We are very proud of the show and its very talented cast and we wish them the best,” the children’s network said in a statement provided to Us Weekly at the time.
The “7 Rings” artist addressed the cancellation via her Facebook page. “I want to thank Nickelodeon for making a childhood dream of mine come true, for being a family to me, for being so accommodating and supportive of my multitasking with my music career, and for of course introducing me to many of my fans however many years ago,” she wrote.
Leading up to the publication of her 2022 memoir, Jennette dropped a few clues about how she really felt about her costar and their spin-off series.
Scroll through for everything to know about the behind-the-scenes drama of Sam & Cat: