In an exclusive interview, Jennette McCurdy talked to E! News about what could spur her to return to acting after quitting years ago.

Jennette McCurdy‘s acting days may not be fully behind her.

The former iCarly star has been open about her decision to stop acting in 2018, but at the Time100 Next Gala Oct. 25, she shared that writing her best-selling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, helped her feel more receptive about the idea of stepping in front of the cameras again.

“I do feel like only through writing the book have I gotten to a place where I think there might be a way of exploring acting that doesn’t carry that baggage that I carried with me for so long,” she exclusively told E! News on the red carpet at the event. “Maybe if I write something for myself. I think that’d really be maybe one of the only ways I could kind of try exploring it again.”

In 2021, McCurdy revealed on her podcast Empty Inside that she had quit acting a few years prior, adding that she “initially didn’t want to do it.”

She elaborated on the experience in her 2022 memoir, where she talked about being the family’s main financial support as a child actor, her relationship with her mom—who she says was abusive—and an upsetting experience with an unnamed Sam & Cat creator.

McCurdy joked that the other way to get her to grace the screen again is to work with Molly Shannon, who wrote her TIME100 Next list entry.

In her tribute, the Saturday Night Live alum wrote, “We knew Jennette McCurdy as a child star and comedian, but with her memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, the world realized she is also an incredible, brilliant writer who worked her ass off to get to the point where she could take her mom off a pedestal and be real about her experiences growing up with narcissistic parental abuse. She had to find her voice to survive. And what a powerful voice it is!”

The actress continued, “You can see the work Jennette put into therapy to process all she had to endure to write this book, from disordered eating to her mom’s fits of volatility. I love how fair she is in examining their relationship. She doesn’t mince words. I can’t stop recommending this book.”

And now Jenette is writing her second. “I’m literally working on a novel now,” she told E! News. “Just closed the deal. I’m so excited.”

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