Why Jennifer Aniston Was the Perfect Actress to Play Jennette McCurdy’s Abusive Mom in Apple TV+ Show

While some fans of Jennette McCurdy‘s memoir were surprised to see Jennifer Aniston cast in the role of her abusive mom in the TV adaptation — she was the perfect choice.

Executive producer Sharon Horgan spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about the upcoming Apple TV+ series, saying, “Jen was part of it from [beginning]. She’s part of the creative team, so it wasn’t what made us see her [in the role]. She was part of the pitch.”

Horgan, 55, who was promoting her role in Hulu’s The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, was excited for viewers to see the TV adaptation of McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died.

“We all just responded to the book. It’s such an extraordinary story and it’s also so extraordinarily written,” the actress noted. “Jennette is such a talent. Now it’s just going through the process of taking something from book to screen.”

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Horgan continued: “We’re doing it at the moment with Vladimir on Netflix, which is another adaptation from book to screen. You just want to do these amazing pieces of work justice. That’s the main sort of pressure. But it’s good to have pressure. This is a new thing I’ve learned. Stress is bad but pressure is good. Now it’s my new mantra.”

Apple TV+ confirmed in July that Aniston, 56, is starring in I’m Glad My Mom Died in addition to being an executive producer on the project. McCurdy, 33, is adapting her book but it hasn’t been announced who will be playing her.

I’m Glad My Mom Died detailed Jennette’s complicated relationship with her abusive mother and the road to recovery following Debra McCurdy’s death in 2013. According to the synopsis, the dramedy will center on “the codependent relationship between an 18-year-old actress in a hit kids’ show, and her narcissistic mom who relishes in her identity as a starlet’s mother.”

Horgan, who is an executive producer on I’m Glad My Mom Died and Vladimir, has remained booked and busy. She can currently be seen playing Amanda Knox‘s mother, Edda Mellas, in Hulu’s scripted series about Knox’s high-profile trial.

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“Honestly, I think everyone feels like they know the story and they don’t. From that point of view, I am excited for people to watch the show because I feel like it looks at it with a completely different lens,” Horgan told Us. “Throughout the season there were elements of the story that I did not have a clue about that felt so huge. You couldn’t understand how it wasn’t public knowledge or focused on.”

The eight-part scripted series allowed for more insight into Knox’s family.

“The personal side of it, how it impacted the family and what Edda and Amanda went through as a mother and daughter and how much it tore the family apart,” Horgan shared. “So from my perspective as somebody who was playing her mother, that was all very much the draw for me to get an opportunity to portray that relationship and how much it impacted them.”

New episodes of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox air Wednesdays on Hulu.