Reading List · Lisanne Swart
Authors Like
By Lisanne Swart · 6 authors · Celebrity Memoir & Trauma · Updated July 2026
Jennette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died earns its provocative title honestly — the book is a precise, often darkly funny account of a childhood consumed by a controlling stage mother and the eating disorders and identity confusion that followed years of child stardom. What makes it work is the refusal of sentimentality: McCurdy doesn't perform recovery, she describes the actual, unglamorous process of it. The writers below share her willingness to write about fame, trauma, and family with unflinching honesty rather than a redemptive gloss.
Readers who enjoy Jennette McCurdy often turn to Anthony Kiedis for a rock star's equally unflinching account of addiction and fame, Kurt Cobain's own writing for the interior view behind similarly consuming celebrity, Britney Spears for a pop star's account of family control and public scrutiny, Demi Lovato for another child-star-to-adult reckoning with mental health, Suleika Jaouad for illness memoir with the same refusal of easy redemption, and Tara Westover for a different but equally precise account of escaping a controlling family system.
Similar Voice & Approach
Anthony Kiedis
Kiedis's Scar Tissue shares McCurdy's willingness to describe addiction, fame, and family dysfunction without flattering himself or reaching for easy redemption, tracing his own path through the Red Hot Chili Peppers' rise with the same specific, unglamorous honesty McCurdy brings to child stardom.
Read Kiedis for a rock star's equally unflinching account of addiction and the specific mechanics of fame's damage. Scar Tissue is essential.
→ Read more about Anthony KiedisKurt Cobain
Cobain's published journals offer the same kind of interior, unguarded view of a young person overwhelmed by sudden fame that McCurdy provides in her memoir, though Cobain's writing is fragmentary and private where McCurdy's is deliberately shaped into narrative.
Read Cobain's Journals for the raw, unfiltered interior view behind consuming, sudden celebrity. It complements McCurdy's more structured narrative approach.
→ Read more about Kurt CobainBritney Spears
Spears's memoir shares McCurdy's central concern with a controlling family structure exploiting a child performer's earning power, and both writers describe the specific mechanics of losing autonomy over one's own life and body under the pressure of managed celebrity.
Read Spears for a pop star's account of family control and conservatorship that closely parallels McCurdy's own experience with a controlling parent. The Woman in Me is essential.
Demi Lovato
Lovato writes about the same trajectory McCurdy describes — child stardom, eating disorders, and mental health struggles compounded by public scrutiny — sharing McCurdy's refusal to present recovery as a finished, tidy arc rather than ongoing work.
Read Lovato for another child-star-to-adult reckoning with mental health and body image under public pressure, closely paralleling McCurdy's own account.
Suleika Jaouad
Jaouad shares McCurdy's refusal of easy redemption, writing about serious illness and its aftermath with the same insistence that recovery is messy, ongoing, and doesn't resolve into a neat lesson, even when the surrounding culture wants exactly that kind of tidy arc.
Read Jaouad for a different kind of survival memoir sharing McCurdy's commitment to honesty over easy redemption. Between Two Kingdoms is essential.
→ Read more about Suleika JaouadTara Westover
Westover's Educated shares McCurdy's central concern with escaping a controlling family system and the disorienting work of building an independent identity afterward, even though Westover's specific circumstances — a survivalist upbringing rather than child stardom — differ substantially.
Read Westover for a different but equally precise account of escaping family control and reconstructing identity on one's own terms. Educated is essential.
→ See all books written by Tara WestoverMore from the shelf
Frequently asked questions about authors like Jennette McCurdy
Who should I read if I like Jennette McCurdy?
Readers who enjoy Jennette McCurdy often turn to Anthony Kiedis for a rock star's equally unflinching account of addiction and fame, Kurt Cobain's own writing for the interior view behind similarly consuming celebrity, Britney Spears for a pop star's account of family control and public scrutiny, Demi Lovato for another child-star-to-adult reckoning with mental health, Suleika Jaouad for illness memoir with the same refusal of easy redemption, and Tara Westover for a different but equally precise account of escaping a controlling family system.
Is Britney Spears's memoir similar to Jennette McCurdy's?
Yes, both share a central concern with a controlling family structure exploiting a child or young performer's earning power. Both writers describe the specific mechanics of losing autonomy over their own lives and bodies under the pressure of managed celebrity, though Spears's story centers on conservatorship where McCurdy's centers on a controlling stage mother.
What should I read after I'm Glad My Mom Died?
Anthony Kiedis's Scar Tissue offers a similarly unflinching account of addiction and fame's damage. Tara Westover's Educated shares McCurdy's central concern with escaping family control and reconstructing identity afterward. For another child-star reckoning with mental health and body image, Demi Lovato's writing closely parallels McCurdy's own trajectory.
Is Kurt Cobain's writing similar to Jennette McCurdy's memoir?
Cobain's published Journals offer a raw, fragmentary, private view of a young person overwhelmed by sudden fame, complementing but differing from McCurdy's deliberately shaped, structured narrative approach. Both provide unguarded interior access to the psychological cost of consuming, unwanted celebrity at a young age."
