Gambler sentenced to 2 years in prison for NBA betting scandal

Gambler Timothy McCormack became the first person sentenced in the wide-ranging NBA gambling scheme that involves players Jontay Porter and Terry Rozier on Wednesday in New York.

McCormack, who used nonpublic information to place significant wagers on prop bets involving players implicated in the scheme, was sentenced to two years in prison for defrauding sports betting platforms.

Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall's sentence was in between the four years the government was pushing for and the sentence with no prison time the defense desired.

"There is no question that this is a serious crime. ... It is about sports generally, what do sports mean to this country?" DeArcy Hall said at the sentencing. "They are supposed to be the best of themselves, and we all root for these teams. This undermines that."

McCormack, 38, placed bets based on insider information that Porter, then with the Toronto Raptors, and Rozier, then with the Charlotte Hornets, would leave certain games early.

"I've struggled with a gambling addiction for more than half my life," McCormack said at his sentencing.

Porter has since been banned from the NBA for his role in the scheme and is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in 2024.

Rozier pleaded not guilty to wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges in December. He is out on $3 million bond and remains on unpaid leave from the Miami Heat, with his next court date set for March.

--Field Level Media

byCosmopolite

in

January 21, 2026

Gambler sentenced to 2 years in prison for NBA betting scandal

Gambler Timothy McCormack became the first person sentenced in the wide-ranging NBA gambling scheme that involves play...

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One more move can save Mets' winter after landing Bo Bichette, Luis Robert

Bo Bichetteencountered the New York skyline for the first time knowing this wasn't just a stopover — it was now his professional home, for 2026 and maybe the next three years.

And while Bichette is a pretty worldly dude — his mother is Brazilian, his father played a dozen years in the big leagues and he spent his first six seasons with theToronto Blue Jays— he admitted a new sensation upon this descent.

"When I landed," Bichette told reporters on Jan. 21, "I looked around and saw the city and it hit a little bit different than it does when you come as a road player. As a road player, you try to ignore all of it.

"When I landed, I kind of soaked it in and realized, 'This is something. This is massive.' It's pretty cool."

TheNew York Metsthink Bichette joining their rotating cadre of superstars is pretty cool, too.

The club introduced Bichette,signed to a three-year, $126 million contract, to the New York media one day after theysolved an outfield problemby acquiring center fielderLuis Robert Jr.from theChicago White Sox. In just five days, they created a nightmare 1-2-3 atop the lineup with Bichette followingFrancisco LindorandJuan Soto, while edging toward the elite defensive alignment club president David Stearns sought in sticking Robert in the middle of the outfield.

Now, an 83-win disappointment won't be followed by a desultory and failed winter. Now, the Mets look an awful lot like the Steve Cohen Mets again.

"Mr. Cohen and David," says Bichette, "have put together an organization that wants to win every year, a chance to win the World Series every year. And a roster that backs that up."

While integrating Bichette's 181 hits, 14.5% strikeout rate and career .330 batting average with runners in scoring position, there's just one major hole in the roster — and Stearns knows it.

$765,000,000: Juan Soto, New York Mets (2025-39)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $700,000,000: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers (2024-33)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $500,000,000: Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., Toronto Blue Jays (2026-39)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $426.5 million: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels (2019-2030)* includes extension

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $365 million: Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers (2020-32)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $360 million: Aaron Judge, New York Yankees (2023-2031)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $350 million: Manny Machado, San Diego Padres (2023-33)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $341 million: Francisco Lindor, New York Mets (2022-31)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $340 million: Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres (2021-34)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $330,000,000: Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies (2019-31)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $325 million: Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins (2015-2027) – traded to New York Yankees in 2017

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $325 million: Corey Seager, Texas Rangers (2022-31)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $325,000,000: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers (2024-35)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $313.5 million: Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox (2024-33) - traded to San Francisco Giants in 2025

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $300 million: Trea Turner, Philadelphia Phillies (2023-33)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $292 million: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers (2014-2023)* includes extension

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $288,777,777: Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals (2024-34)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $280 million: Xander Bogaerts, San Diego Padres (2023-33)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $275 million: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (2008-2017)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $260 million: Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies (2019-26) - traded to St. Louis Cardinals in 2021, traded to Arizona Diamondbacks in 2026

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $252,000,000: Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers (2001-10)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $245 million: Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals (2020-26)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $245 million: Anthony Rendon, Los Angeles Angels (2020-26)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $240,000,000: Kyle Tucker, Los Angeles Dodgers (2026-29)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $240 million: Albert Pujols, Los Angeles Angels (2012-2021)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $240 million: Robinson Cano, Seattle Mariners (2014-2023) – traded to New York Mets in 2019

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $225 million: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds (2012-2021)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $217 million: David Price, Boston Red Sox (2016-2022) – traded to Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $215 million: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers (2014-2020)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $215 million: Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers (2020-28)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $214 million: Prince Fielder, Detroit Tigers (2012-2020) – traded to Texas Rangers in 2013

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $212 million: Austin Riley, Atlanta Braves (2023-32)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $210 million: Corbin Burnes, Arizona Diamondbacks (2025-30)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $210 million: Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals (2015-2021)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $209.3 million: Julio Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners (2023-34)

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $206.5 million: Zack Greinke, Arizona Diamondbacks (2016-2021) – traded to Houston Astros in 2019

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> $200 million: Carlos Correa, Minnesota Twins (2023-28) - traded to Houston Astros in 2025

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

MLB's $200+ million contracts

$765,000,000: Juan Soto, New York Mets (2025-39)

Mets' next target: Starting pitcher

The marriage of hedge fund kingpin Cohen and Stearns, who made his bones running an efficient shop in Milwaukee, has been largely successful. Stearns got out of the way when Cohen wanted to lavish $765 million on Juan Soto, while Cohen has abided by Stearns' desire to avoid big-dollar commitments to starting pitchers.

Yeah, about that.

The Mets are coming up on the opening of spring camp with a rotation pocked with youngsters (Nolan McLean, perhaps Jonah Tong) and a gaggle of whose ability to deliver significant innings might be in some question (Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga, David Peterson).

The cherry on top of what's already expected to be a $500 million outlay for salary and luxury taxes? A serviceable, if not dominant, starting pitcher.

Stearns knows this. And expects to fulfill it.

"My preference is to add a starting pitcher," Stearns told SNY following Bichette's press conference. "I've been open and honest about that through the entirety of the offseason.

"I can't say with certainty we'll be able to do that, but we remain engaged on a number of different fronts in that market. We've still got plenty of time to go in the offseason, plenty of time before Opening Day, so we'll see where it heads."

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This is a pretty rosy statement if you're a Mets fan. Fishing in multiple markets is an interesting concept, which suggests the Mets would be engaged in the short-term veteran pool (such as reuniting with Chris Bassitt, Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer) yet perhaps keeping an eye on if bigger prizes fall to them (Framber Valdez, most notably, and to a lesser degree Zac Gallen).

Perhaps that means a medium-term commitment to a Lucas Giolito type, or a swingman situation with a Zack Littell or Nick Martinez. The Mets could also try to trade forMilwaukee Brewersace Freddy Peralta orWashington Nationalsleft-hander MacKenzie Gore, but in dealing for those reasonably priced arms, the Mets lose their biggest advantage: Financial might. Either way, Stearns is on it, and a medium to major addition would make the entire Mets starting group look much better.

Chemistry test

Something went foul in the Mets' mix at the end of last season, when their four-month freefall coalesced in a final-day elimination. Not that there weren't logistical reasons to change the team's complexion, most notably byshipping out Brandon NimmoandJeff McNeil, andmoving on from Pete Alonso.

Yet if it's impossible to measure what the Mets gain through subtraction, they can be sure the infield additions of Bichette and Marcus Semien are significant.

Those dudes are dawgs.

"One of the most competitive right-handed hitters in our sport," Stearns says of Bichette. "Incredible baseball aptitude. Anyone who's watched him sees that very, very clearly.

"He intensely wants to win. Throughout that (negotiating) process it's that intense desire to win that came through loud and clear."

For his part, Bichette is thrilled to reunite with Semien, who spent one year as Bichette's double-play partner in Toronto, hit 45 home runs and moved on to a $175 million contract — anda 2023 World Series championship— in Texas.

"I have a special relationship with him," says Bichette, who was 23 and in his first full major league season in 2021. "That was someone who taught me the ropes, showed me how to be a professional, someone who I respect a ton. It definitely adds to the excitement to get to play with him again."

Better yet, the Mets' Louis Vuitton lineup ensures that Semien, now 35, can lurk in its bottom third, not a bad piece of real estate for a guy whose adjusted OPS fell below league average last year, but still produced 3.3 WAR.

A winter less nuclear

To be certain, this was not a happily-ever-after kind of day in Queens.

Bichette has opt-out clauses after each of the first two seasons of this deal and, since he doesn't turn 28 until March, will be in prime position to cash in even more significantly next winter. Robert is a free agent after this season.

And perhaps the pitcher Stearns ultimately lands will be on a one-year deal, too.

That's OK. Cohen plays this market like a craps player spreads his chips around the board, seeing some vanish and re-loading for the next roll. Just a week ago, it looked like Cohen and Stearns crapped out.

Now they have Bichette and Robert in hand, a pitcher on the way and a winter narrative, shifted.

Now, they have a chance.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Bo Bichette introduced by Mets: day after Luis Robert Jr. trade

byCosmopolite

in

January 21, 2026

One more move can save Mets' winter after landing Bo Bichette, Luis Robert

Bo Bichetteencountered the New York skyline for the first time knowing this wasn't just a stopover — it was now his p...

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Scottie Scheffler makes his 2026 debut amid palm trees and desert at The American Express

LA QUINTA, Calif. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler always keeps score. His most recent competition before starting the PGA Tour season was at home in Dallas when Si Woo Kim took some cash off the world's No. 1 player, only to have to give most of it back from a separate game.

Scheffler has been competing without big consequences during his long offseason. Now the score counts for 156 players — the largest domestic field of regular PGA Tour stops this year — at The American Express when it starts Thursday over three courses.

The practice range at PGA West was unusually busy on Monday, and it only got more crowded the next two days. There is new equipment to try, but mainly it's the final check on whatever tweaks or improvements have been made.

"I love playing this event to start," Scheffler said. "You get a good gauge of where you're at just based upon you're not really playing in so many conditions, and you've got to be sharp around this place in order to make enough birdies to compete."

Scheffler is golf's best player for a reason. Along with two majors among his six PGA Tour titles last year, he hasn't finished out of the top 10 since last March. And yet as much as he loves coming to the California desert, he hasn't had a top 10 at The American Express since his first time in 2020.

The largest field in a year when the PGA Tour is shrinking is a product of players being spread out over PGA West (Nicklaus and Palmer tournament courses) and La Quinta Country Club.

It's also the strongest field in more than two decades for this tournament, highlighted by Scheffler and including 13 of the top 30 in the world ranking.

Except for those who came over from the season-opening Sony Open last week, most players are looking to shake off a little rust. They have been practicing, yes, but not competing.

"It's more tournament rust," former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark said.

He has spent the last two years starting his season at Kapalua for The Sentry, a winners-only field plus the top 50 from the FedEx Cup. It was a relaxing start to the year with wide fairways, gorgeous views and a small field. It was canceled this year over a water dispute that burned out the Plantation course in September.

"You prefer Kapalua because you're playing the Tournament of Champions," Clark said. "But I like starting here. You're guaranteed three rounds, you have good weather, you kind of play in a dome, so you get to see where your game is at."

Clark played in the Bahamas and the mixed-team event in Florida. Scheffler played only the Hero World Challenge the last three months of the season, spending more time in the gym to get healthy and to feel rested. Justin Rose can claim to have some form of competition — he made an albatross in the TGL match Tuesday night in Florida.

Ludvig Aberg has gone two months since playing Dubai in the European tour finale, working at home in Florida with a brief trip to Sweden.

"It is different," he said of starting the year among desert palms instead of Hawaii palms. "This golf course is a better indication in terms of where you are and the progress you made in the offseason. Kapalua is a great place to start the year. But the golf course, the elevation, is more about getting it forward. Here you get direct feedback."

He is a newcomer to this tournament, but not the area. Aberg said the Nicklaus Tournament course looked familiar when he saw it, perhaps from playing a casual round when Texas Tech was in town to play a college tournament elsewhere. Courses don't often stand out in this oasis — manicured green grass, white sand, brown desert and dormant grass outside the ropes, blue water from all the various hazards — and great weather.

Sepp Straka is the defending champion — this is the 50-year anniversary of Johnny Miller being the last back-to-back winner of this tournament.

It was the start of a great year for Straka, who went on to win a signature event and play in his second Ryder Cup (both European victories). Aberg went the other direction, winning a signature event at Torrey Pines and then not getting another great result until beating Patrick Cantlay in a pivotal singles match at the Ryder Cup.

"Last year was interesting," he said. "Somewhere between Torrey and Augusta I started swinging it not very good. There were some technical tendencies I've been working on and tired to figure out. I've always just done it and then it happens, whereas now I feel like I have a lot more knowledge and understanding. So 2025 was great for that.

"But I'm excited to feel the adrenaline and the juices," he said, "and this is best place to do that."

AP golf:https://apnews.com/hub/golf

byCosmopolite

in

January 21, 2026

Scottie Scheffler makes his 2026 debut amid palm trees and desert at The American Express

LA QUINTA, Calif. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler always keeps score. His most recent competition before starting the PGA Tour s...

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Nicole Kidman Shares Photos from Quality Time with Her Daughters in Antarctica amid Split from Keith Urban

Nicole Kidman/Instagram

NEED TO KNOW

• Nicole Kidman and her daughters Sunday and Faith traveled to Antarctica

• Kidman shared an Instagram post from her travels on Wednesday, Jan. 21

• Kidman called the trip a "once in a lifetime adventure"

Nicole Kidmanhas officially visited all seven continents — and her seventh was Antarctica.

In anInstagrampost shared on Wednesday, Jan. 21, Kidman, 58, shared a glimpse of her trip to Antarctica alongside herdaughters Sunday Rose, 17, and Faith Margaret, 15.

"Thank you@SilverSeafor taking me to my 7th continent! Once in a lifetime adventure with family and friends," Kidman captioned the post.

In one photo, theBabygirlstar and her daughters are seen wearing red and black snow suits with black sunglasses to protect from the harsh elements of the continent. In another photo, the Academy Award winner sports a white puffer jacket and black pants as she poses on a boat with a glacier in the background. The actress also spent some cozy time onboard the ship reading a book.

The trip comes after a source told PEOPLE recently that "Nicole spends a lot of time with her girls. She loves family time," amid her split fromKeith Urban.

Nicole Kidman/Instagram

Afterspending the holidays in Australia, the actress returned to Nashville with her daughters, the source added. "She is refreshed and optimistic about the new year," said the source. "They're all settling back in to their routine. Things have been calm."

"She's looking ahead to a busy and exciting year professionally too, withseveral projects coming up," the source added.

Kidman recently have reached a settlement and finalized her divorce from Keith Urban, and opted to waive child support.

The Perfect Coupleactress and the country music star, both 58, entered into an agreement that was filed in court on Jan. 6, just three months after Kidmanofficially filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, she and Urban have agreed to waive all child and spousal support rights. Each person is also responsible for their own legal fees and expenses.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

CLAUDIO MONGE/EPA/Shutterstock

According to the parenting plan for their daughters, Faith, and Sunday, both Kidman and Urban are required to "behave with each other and each child so as to provide a loving, stable, consistent and nurturing relationship with the child even though they are divorced."

Read the original article onPeople

byCosmopolite

in

January 21, 2026

Nicole Kidman Shares Photos from Quality Time with Her Daughters in Antarctica amid Split from Keith Urban

Nicole Kidman/Instagram NEED TO KNOW Nicole Kidman and her daughters Sunday and Faith traveled to Antarctica Kidman shared an Instagram p...

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Jennette McCurdy is so not a child actor anymore. She's an author with a capital A.

NEW YORK – When you're talking toJennette McCurdy,it's easy to forget her career started as a Nickelodeon actor, not during a highbrow MFA creative writing program.

McCurdy may have grown up in the spotlight on shows like "iCarly" and "Sam & Cat", but she has the soul of a writer. She's more comfortable alone at her desk than she is getting glitzed up for TV interviews like those she's done for her debut novel,"Half His Age."Writers are recluse creatures, I agree. We bond over how strange it is to talk in front of a four-camera setup. We decide we'll look at each other and ignore the publicists, stylists and camera crew watching beyond the lights.

McCurdy's not content to be the sole participant in an interview conversation. When we talk about her protagonist self-isolating in her relentless pursuit of a relationship, she wants to know if that's ever happened to me. When she explains that she put down another writing project to work on "Half His Age" because the story erupted out of her – she calls it "a vomit draft" – she wants to know the last thing that I wrote that made me feel like that.

Meet Jennette McCurdy, the author

McCurdy's press tour is inherently different from that of a writer who got their start writing books. Her 2022 memoir"I'm Glad My Mom Died"was unflinching in its portrayal of abuse, eating disorders and the dark sides of childhood stardom. Readers are as hungry to know about her personal life as they are about her new work.

I thought of this while I listened to a recent"Call Her Daddy" podcast episodefeaturing McCurdy. Early in the conversation, hostAlex Cooperpaused their discussion on the book's power dynamics and asked if McCurdy would go "back to childhood" first.

"Haven't spent enough time in childhood in therapy, so might as well do more," McCurdy said to Cooper.

At this stage in her career, McCurdy has made a conscious, deliberate shift to be known not as a former child actor, but as an author with a capital A. I ask her to explain that to me. What were her intentions in defining this new era of her career?

"Can I just say I really appreciate this question, really, on a heart level?" McCurdy says from a couch in USA TODAY's New York studio. "Because it was intentional, but it also wasn't me just going like, 'Hmm, you know what? I want to be a writer, I'm going to be a writer.' It's something I've done my whole life. It's something that, as a child, has always been the way that I've processed the world.

"Acting was my mom's dream. She literally wanted to be a famous actress and her parents wouldn't let her. So then she lived sort of vicariously through me, but writing was always the thing that I wanted to do."

Since her memoir published, she's noticed a change in her interactions with fans − "a 180," she says. She appreciates conversations with "kindred spirit" readers that are rooted in respect and dialogue. She grew up with fans shouting at her and grabbing her with "an uncomfortable amount of squeeze," making their kids take pictures with her.

"I feel more of a sense of belonging in the literary world than I ever, ever did in Hollywood," McCurdy says. "(I've been) finding my people and feeling like I've got lifelong friends and they're authors. These are my people. These are my friends."

A 'seed' of truth in McCurdy's inspiration for 'Half His Age'

"Uncomfortable," however, is a word McCurdy embraces when it comes to the book itself. "Half His Age" follows Waldo, a high schooler who initiates an obsessive, entangled sexual relationship with her creative writing teacher.

Waldo is very different from McCurdy. She's bolder and less naive than McCurdy was at 17, she says. McCurdy tells me she felt shemissed out on the teenage yearsshe describes in "Half His Age." But there's a grain of truth in the age gap relationship plot. McCurdyherself was in a "creepy" relationshipwith an older man when she was 18. All writers put a degree of themselves into their work, even if it's fiction.

"How could you not? I don't know how it could be done without having some piece of yourself, some seed of it," she says.

Writing Waldo was healing for her, she says.

"(Writing) is a way to process unprocessed feelings and that really was the thing that drove the book out of me," McCurdy says.

In a way, "Half His Age" does exist in the afterglow of her memoir. If you felt uneasy laughing at McCurdy's humor between harrowing childhood stories in "I'm Glad My Mom Died," just wait until you read the sex scenes between a 17-year-old and her 40-something, married creative writing teacher.

That's purposeful, McCurdy tells me.

"I think the value of discomfort is another conversation that I hope surfaces," McCurdy says. "It can be a sexy read, but at times it can really be, to your point, an uncomfortable one. I think being uncomfortable is so useful and so valuable and it's an indication that there is a conversation to be had. I can't really think of many times when I'm comfortable and there's a juicy conversation and there's something to dissect."

One firm foot in publishing, one toe back in Hollywood

A week after she finished the manuscript for "Half His Age," McCurdy wrote it into a screenplay. It's now been confirmed for adaptation, and she's attached to direct it.

Stepping into the writer's room instead of an actor's trailer is a more appealing Hollywood access point now. McCurdy is eager to tackle adaptation, a task she thinks best suited for authors themselves.

"How often do you hear 'Oh, well, the movie was better than the book'?" McCurdy says. "There's a reason for that. It's because the author has that story in them and they've articulated it already once, beautifully. Why wouldn't we assume that they could do it again in a different format? It only makes sense. They have that voice, they have that vision. I think so often the thing is handed off to another pair of hands and then the voice gets muddled, the vision gets lost."

"I'm Glad My Mom Died" will soon be a10-episode Apple TV+ dramedystarring Jennifer Aniston as the titular mother. McCurdy will act aswriter, director and showrunneron the series.

In both projects, she'll inevitably work with child actors. They may feel the same pressures she faced as a young person in Hollywood. Does she see herself as a mentor or have a concept of what working with young actors in Hollywood will be like?

"I honestly never considered that," McCurdy says. "I see Hollywood as kind of the background piece. I'm writing my books and that's really my primary focus and then Hollywood can be its noisy circus that I kind of dip my toe in here and there, but books really are my focus and where I feel the most comfortable and where the world makes the most sense. My experience at the publishing world is that it's not insane, which is great."

Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find heron Instagram, subscribe to our weeklyBooks newsletteror tell her what you're reading atcmulroy@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Jennette McCurdy makes clear career pivot from actor to author

byCosmopolite

in

January 21, 2026

Jennette McCurdy is so not a child actor anymore. She's an author with a capital A.

NEW YORK – When you're talking toJennette McCurdy,it's easy to forget her career started as a Nickelodeon actor, ...

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