Jennette McCurdy defends her controversial new book which deals with a very dark topic

Bestselling author and ex-child star Jennette McCurdy made waves with her debut book, I’m Glad My Mom Died. But her most recent novel seems to be causing even more of a stir, and it’s not even out yet.

Jennette just announced Half His Age, which follows a 17-year-old girl named Waldo who “has an affair” with her high school teacher.

People are calling out the “inappropriate” storyline, but the author has defended the plot of her upcoming novel.

“[It is] a novel about sex, class, consumerism, power, self-discovery… as seen through the eyes of one very lonely teenage girl,” McCurdy said in an interview with Vogue.

“I really wanted to write about sex. I wanted to explore consumerism – rampant consumerism – and its effects on young people, as well as the complicated aspects of desire.”

She then went into a little more detail about the main character, Waldo: “She’s ravenous, horny, blunt. I’ve always heard fiction writers say, ‘I can’t believe how this character surprised me.’ Now I get it. She has a voice that is entirely her own. I really wanted to honour that.”

Jennette isn’t shy when it comes to writing about taboo topics. She defended going even darker with Half His Age, saying: “Something I learned from the first book that I really wanted to take into this one is that the more uncomfortable something is to write, the more important it is to write,” she says. “Finding and writing those ugly truths is meaningful to me.”

In her autobiography, Jennette McCurdy opened up about abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother. Part of this was feeling sexually repressed – her mother didn’t let her have relationships as a teenager and treated her developing body like a negative.

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“I hope that people will really connect with Waldo,” she says. “Growing up, I wish I had seen an 18-year-old character portrayed in this way. I think there’s something really special and specific about her that I hope will resonate.”

With the popularity of BookTok and dark fantasy romance novels that covers edgy themes, people are a bit more used to uncomfortable dynamics in fiction. But the age and power difference in Half His Age have many people questioning, at what point is it too far?

Jennette McCurdy via X

“I really don’t like this cover,” one X user said. “It reeks of sexualisation of grooming. Hopefully I’m proven wrong. And I don’t like the way she describes the summary either.”

“She couldn’t be college aged? Like, why a high school girl?” said another.

But lots of people are also defending Half His Age.

“People mad at this need to realise that just because your write about a dark subject doesn’t mean you condone it,” said one commenter.

Half His Age comes out in January 2026.

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Featured image by: Jennette McCurdy via Instagram/