Jennette McCurdyWhen she received her casting news, she was still in her booster seat. iCarly.

The actress describes the moment she got the news in her upcoming autobiography I’m Glad My Mom Died, in which she transports readers to the cramped backseat of her mother’s Ford Windstar. Her mother was then 14 years old. Debbie McCurdyA person who had died from cancer in 2013 asked for an extension of their telephone bill. 

“Mom weeps as she works through an extension. But by the time Brandon from Sprint PCS has finished, her tears are dry. While she dials Susan, she thrusts her hand back behind her and toward me,” Jennette writes in an excerpt published by Entertainment Weekly. “I need to reach as high as possible to grasp her hand. Because the seat belt is pulled through a booster seat, its length is cut so that it locks faster. When I reach for Mom’s hand and lean forward, the belt clicks. But I cannot reach my mother’s hand. Click, click, click.”