Jennette McCurdy Reveals 'Terrifying' Pregnancy Scare She Had While Taking Medication That Causes Birth Defects

Nickelodeon alum and ‘I’m Glad My Mom Is Dead’ author talks pregnancy scare she experienced while taking Accutane

Jennette McCurdy says she had a “terrifying” pregnancy scare while taking a popular acne drug known to cause birth defects.

The iCarly alum and author The New York Times bestselling memoir I’m glad my mom is dead revealed her pregnancy scare on the latest episode of her podcast on Tuesday, Hard Feelings with Jenette McCurdy.

“I want to talk about acne,” McCurdy began, saying that at age 31, she still struggles with acne that started when she was about 15.

At first, McCurdy says she thought her acne was a product of the heavy makeup used on the set of her Nickelodeon shows iCarly and Sam & Cat.

“I thought it was just because of the bright light and heavy make-up, and of course I’ve been to fashion shows for years. And then the TV shows stopped, and I still had acne,” McCurdy said.

McCurdy’s memoir topped the New York Times bestseller list.

“It makes me so insecure. My God, people, it really affects my confidence.”

McCurdy said she saw multiple dermatologists and tried several medications, including azelaic acid, niacinamide, tretinoin and others, until she finally got “the lowest dose of Accutane for a few months.”

Accutane is a type of retinoid medication used to treat severe acne, according to the Cleveland Clinic, which notes that it’s often prescribed if other acne medications don’t work.

While Accutane is effective in treating acne, it comes with significant side effects for people of childbearing age.

“Serious birth defects can occur even if just one dose is taken. Do not breast-feed while taking this medication or for 1 month after stopping treatment,” warns the Cleveland Clinic.

As McCurdy recalled, “You have to take a test to show that you’re aware of all the risks, and you have to sign a contract that says you will not get pregnant — under no circumstances will you get pregnant while taking Accutane.”

The risks are so great, McCurdy says: “You have to be on two forms of birth control. You have to go and you have to do blood tests once a month. You have to go to your dermatologist after the blood work every month just for a check-up, just so you give your dermatologist a chance to see your skin up close and see how your lips are peeling because that’s a side effect of Accutane.”

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After three months of taking the medicine, she said: “I was in a bad mood. I didn’t want to go to my dermatologist… You know when you wake up and you see that appointment on your calendar and you’re like, ‘Y…’ Like, there’s my Wednesday.”

With her signature deadpan humor, McCurdy explains, “I just didn’t want to be uncomfortable going to the dermatologist’s office and seeing the same fucking posters in the same fucking rooms. There is nothing more depressing than a poster in a doctor’s office. It’s always a woman with yoga pants and a healthy cotton T-shirt, gray hair and a headband and the biggest fucking smile you’ve ever seen.”

But when she called to cancel her appointment, her dermatologist called ten minutes later, insisting that McCurdy come.

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“The receptionist sounds like she’s stressed and says, ‘Hey, I talked to the dermatologist again and she says you really have to come, okay?’ I said, ‘What the f—k?’ Why does the receptionist sound so stressed. Is she okay? What’s going on?'”

“I go, ‘I can’t make it. Can I just come next week?” McCurdy recalled. “She said, ‘No, because we have the results of your blood work and there’s a pregnancy.'”

According to the National Institutes of Health, “Isotretinoin [the active ingredient in Accutane] causes birth defects in up to 35% or more of infants exposed during pregnancy.” These disabilities may include “moderate to severe behavioral problems and/or intellectual disabilities.”

“I was shocked,” McCurdy says. “I felt like I had the wind knocked out of me. My head was spinning. Involuntarily, I sat on the edge of the bed. My body seemed to fall to the end of the bed. I asked myself ‘What?’ Anyway, never mind. Even now just repeating it makes my heart burst. Oh my God, it was so scary.”

She says she began “recounting recent sexual activities at the time” asking herself, “How is that possible? How could this be? What happened? What didn’t work? How did this happen?”

“I’m ordering an Uber. I’m in the backseat of an Uber, dizzy the whole way, feeling like I’m going to pass out or throw up or both. Passionately. Passionately. Passionately.”

McCurdy said she was immediately taken back to the doctor, who asked her, “So is there any chance you’re pregnant?” and I’m like “What? You said it was a pregnancy. It sounds like you know there’s not only a chance, but a certainty. Your he invited me here, baby. You said I was pregnant.”

She says she was informed that a false pregnancy can sometimes occur while taking medication.

After several blood tests, McCurdy said she found out. “I’m not pregnant and I’m fine.”

However, “that experience was so terrifying,” she says, “that I was like, I have to get rid of this shit. This is not for me.”

Jennette McCurdy.

Noam Galai/Getty

And now, at 31, McCurdy says, “I struggle as much as ever” with acne.

“Maybe you look at this being like, ‘Jennette, you look good.’ First of all, in an Instagram photo, you can’t say… ‘You have great skin,’ and I’m like, ‘No, I don’t. I know how to make up my face. I know how to find a good shade of foundation and the right application.”

“I’m thinking about posting the picture, but I’m too insecure to do so. It’s interesting to me because I can access vulnerability so easily in so many ways, but with my face, it’s hard. As with my words, I can. With my face, I don’t think I can.”

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She continues: “And I wish it didn’t matter to me. I wish I didn’t have to worry about my acne anymore, just say ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter’. It’s just a thing I’ve got, you know, who cares?’

“But I care so much that I just want my skin to be smooth,” she said. “My acne makes me feel dirty. I’m sorry I feel that way about myself.”

“I tried everything. And the one thing I haven’t tried, I guess, is to just accept it and own it. And maybe that’s the only thing I haven’t tried because it’s the hardest thing to try.”

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Source: HIS Education