Jennette McCurdy says writing her new book helped her get the "closure" she needed after her relationship with a much-older man when she was a teen.
The former star of iCarly and Sam & Cat has been on the press tour for her second book, Half His Age, and appeared on the Wednesday (Jan. 21) episode of TODAY with Jenna and Sheinelle, where she explained her reasons for writing the novel.
The book follows McCurdy's 2022 memoir, I'm Glad My Mom Died.
Around the two-minute mark of the video below, the actress shared that her writing "comes from a deeply emotional place" and that she considers her latest book to be "personal."
"For me, writing is an opportunity to find closure in areas where maybe there isn't so much closure," McCurdy said. "A way to process feelings maybe I haven't processed."
Earlier this month, the entertainer appeared on podcast Call Her Daddy, where she shared that she entered a relationship with a middle-aged man while she was around 17 years old.
McCurdy described the relationship as "addictive" and said her nervous system was "hijacked" at the time.
Published on Jan. 20, Half His Age centers on high school student Waldo, who forms a romantic connection with her married creative writing teacher, Mr. Korgy. The book's characters are loosely based on McCurdy and the man she dated as a teen, who was involved with another woman at the time.
"I see this as a story less focused on the taboo itself and more on the psychological examination of the young woman who’s experiencing it, and all the contributing factors that allowed her to fall into this relationship in the first place," McCurdy recently told The New York Times.