Debra McCurdy, Jennette McCurdy’s mother died Friday after a lengthy battle with cancer, E! News reports. Jennette McCurdy was the star of “iCarly” and “Sam and Cat”. Debra McCurdy was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 1995, but she had been in remission for 15 years when breast cancer returned in 2010. Unfortunately the cancer had spread throughout her entire body and into her brain.

“Jennette has suffered an unimaginable loss,” her rep said in a statement. “Please respect her and her family’s privacy at this time of mourning. She appreciates the love and support of her fans.”

Back in 2010, Jennette opened up about her mother’s battle with cancer in an essay she wrote from the heart in the Wall Street Journal she was “shocked” and “angry” when the cancer she had been cleared of, returned.

“I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for my mother to tolerate all she has gone through and continues to go through – the pain, the worry and the battle,” Jennette said. “She wakes up every day hurting and goes to sleep hurting even more. My mother, the constant optimist and effervescent, sprightly woman I know her to be, is caged along with this hideous beast they call cancer.”

“If you’re reading this and you were one of those people who thought, ‘young actors have perfect lives,’ I hope that you will think differently now,” she continued on. “We do have challenges. We do cry. We are experiencing difficult things. But we will continue to smile and crack jokes because, as entertainers, even if we’re privately struggling with painful trials, our job is to make others forget theirs.”

Although Jennette, nor her boyfriend Andre Drummond, have said anything publicly about the loss of her mother, the Detroit Pistons forward tweeted his feelings about his girlfriend’s private battle:

First time in my life, I don't have all the answers for something..

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