Driveway fires, falling bongs, brain microchips, and more. Amanda Bynes was a promising young star,
but then it all came crashing down. From her feud with the president to her fashion school ejection,
these are the tragic details about Amanda Bynes.
Amanda Bynes' retirement decision came on the heels of hits like She's the Man,
Hairspray, and just before the release of Easy A,
in which she starred opposite future Oscar-winner Emma Stone. At the time, the only explanation
Bynes offered for her unexpected choice was that acting wasn't "fun" for her. She tweeted in 2010:
"If I don't love something anymore, I stop doing it. I don't love acting anymore,
so I've stopped doing it. I know 24 is a young age to retire, but you heard it here first."
In a 2018 interview with Paper magazine, Bynes revealed that her self-esteem had hit rock
bottom and she was so disappointed while watching herself in Easy A.
In the film, she played the very religious Marianne. Bynes explained to Paper:
"I literally couldn't stand my appearance in that movie and I didn't like my performance.
I was absolutely convinced I needed to stop acting after seeing it."
Things quickly went downhill for Amanda Bynes, and a lot of her struggles played out publicly.
In April 2012, the actor was arrested for a DUI, and she learned the hard way — as just about any
celebrity who goes through the booking process would — that her mugshot was plastered across
the pages of tabloids and on gossip sites. In the picture, Bynes' hair is dyed pink, which led some
outlets to drag her appearance in the now-infamous photo. According to TMZ, Bynes allegedly hit a cop
car while trying to pass it. This put her sobriety into question. The star's $5,000
bail got her out of jail, but her struggles behind the wheel continued throughout the year.
By September 2012, the Associated Press reported that Bynes had been charged
in two hit-and-run incidents after leaving the scenes of two separate
accidents without making her information available to the other affected parties.
When it comes to rough years for Amanda Bynes, 2013 would rank very high on the list.
Although her official Twitter account has since been deleted, she was still active
on the site at the time. That year, she had a habit of tweeting bizarre rants on the platform,
including calling then-president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama "ugly."
In July of that year, Bynes had another notably rough moment when she was placed
on a 5150 psychiatric hold after she allegedly set
fire to an old woman's driveway in Thousand Oaks, California.
"They determined that she meant the criteria of 5150 of the welfare and institutions code."
As TMZ noted, the incident came just a day after the actor was photographed shopping at
Bloomingdale's in Santa Monica wearing a blonde wig and a long t-shirt without visible pants or
shorts. In 2014, Bynes started making public appearances looking unlike herself in long,
sometimes colorful wigs, huge sunglasses, and facial piercings. One set of photos of her from
this time, where she's wearing a long blonde and teal wig with bangs and oversized sunglasses,
has become particularly associated with this phase in her life.
"I think Amanda's been in the public eye so long that there's a
twisted part of her that thinks this attention may be good."
Amanda Bynes experienced another low moment in New York City in 2013 when police were called
to her Times Square apartment because she was smoking marijuana in the building lobby.
This led to an incident that reportedly left Bynes facing several potential charges,
including drug possession, reckless endangerment, and even a possible felony for evidence tampering.
Like so many stories involving Bynes at the time, the details were a bit bizarre.
According to the New York Post's sources, police met with Bynes in her apartment on the 34th floor,
where she reportedly threw her bong out of the window. Her behavior must have
concerned the officers on the scene because Bynes reportedly underwent psychiatric
observation at a hospital before she was taken in for booking. In February 2014,
she was back in L.A. to face legal consequences for her 2012 DUI arrest. The star ended up
pleading no contest to reckless driving and received a relatively light sentence that didn't
include any jail time — just probation and a few months of mandatory alcohol education classes.
In January 2014, things were optimistic for Amanda Bynes when she enrolled at the Fashion
Institute of Design and Marketing. In addition to being a positive and productive new direction
for the star, fashion school seemed to be easy for her. A source told E! News:
"She's a great student who always participated and
really cared about her classes. She really fit in and loves her school."
The source added that Bynes would be on the fence about even accepting acting gigs if they came up
because school was such a priority to her. Alas, this chapter in the Amanda Bynes saga
also took a turn for the tragic; in September 2014, she was reportedly kicked out of FIDM.
Her classmates told TMZ that she frequently skipped classes and was often high for those
she did attend. Other issues Bynes had while attending FIDM reportedly included intense
mood swings that led to big arguments as well as multiple forms of cheating,
such as repeatedly paying classmates to complete her assignments for her.
However, Bynes later returned to her studies and graduated from FIDM in 2019.
She received an Associate's of Art degree in Merchandise Product Development,
with plans to continue on for a bachelor's degree.
"I'm really looking forward to starting my clothing line."
In October 2014, Amanda Bynes once again made headlines for her Twitter use.
This time, the celeb tweeted allegations that her father,
Rick, had abused her and that her mother, Lynn, had been complicit in the abuse.
Her parents denied the claims and their lawyer, Tamar Arminak, made a statement to TMZ:
"My clients are heartbroken by these false accusations.
Their older children are also horrified at the situation."
According to TMZ, Lynn Bynes attributed the outburst to her daughter's, quote,
"mental state at the moment." In a statement to E! News, she added,
"It saddens me beyond belief that my husband's character could be slandered in such a way."
Shortly after making the allegations, Bynes recanted her claims of abuse,
but she levied new claims that she was not in control of what she was saying. She tweeted:
"My dad never did any of those things[.] The microchip in my
brain made me say those things but he's the one that ordered them to microchip me."
Amid this drama, the actor was placed on another 5150 hold and taken to a hospital
in Pasadena, California. After the second psychiatric hold, Bynes publicly revealed
she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was receiving treatment.
Amanda Bynes' mother was granted a temporary, emergency conservatorship over her daughter
after the celeb's public struggles with mental health in 2013. On October 10,
2014, Amanda was put on a 72-hour 5150 psychiatric hold after her DUI arrest
and her abuse accusations on Twitter. On October 13, the hold was extended by two weeks, after
which it was extended yet again — this time for an additional 30 days of involuntary commitment.
Just a day after the 30-day extension came the full conservatorship, giving Lynn legal
control over Amanda and her estate, which was reportedly valued at over $5 million at the time.
Amanda Bynes' parents made their daughter's well-being the top priority, opting to hand
the reins over to professionals who were more qualified to make decisions about her care and
finances. According to TMZ, shortly after the permanent conservatorship was put into effect,
they filed to transfer control of their daughter's health decisions to an appropriate
mental health practitioner. At the same time, they were also reportedly working
to give financial conservatorship powers to a money manager. In 2017,
Bynes took back her financial responsibility and freedom.
After her conservatorship went into effect, Amanda Bynes faded from the spotlight as
she focused on her mental health and getting the care and support she needed. Several years later,
in a 2018 interview with Paper magazine, Bynes candidly discussed her history with
drugs. This included the fact that she was able to get Adderall under false pretenses
to stay thin while filming Hairspray and the fact that she began smoking pot at age 16.
"But I have fun, you know, I'm 21, I live it up."
Her early experimentation with drugs didn't rise to the level of addiction,
as she told Paper, adding,
"I wasn't going out and partying or making a fool of myself... yet."
She also said that she did molly, ecstasy, and tried then decided against cocaine;
however, she revealed that her use of Adderall had become a problem. She also discussed her
past Twitter rants, saying she was ashamed of them in hindsight. Bynes told the outlet:
"I can't turn back time but if I could, I would. And I'm so sorry to whoever I hurt and whoever I
lied about because it truly eats away at me. It makes me feel so horrible and sick to my stomach
and sad. Everything I worked my whole life to achieve, I kind of ruined it all through Twitter."
Over the next few years, Amanda Bynes continued to work to repair her relationships and manage
her mental health. In 2020, she announced her engagement to a man named Paul Michael,
with whom she's had some serious ups and downs. And by 2021,
Bynes had reportedly repaired her relationship with her parents. An insider told E! News,
"Her relationship with her parents is wonderful at the moment."
The insider went on to add that quarantining away from each other
during the pandemic had played a big role in improving the relationship:
"It really made her appreciate her loved ones even
more. So when they were finally able to see each other again,
they were able to spend that quality time together and that strengthened their bond a lot."
In 2022, Bynes' parents publicly supported her bid
to end her conservatorship, with her mother's attorney stating:
"Amanda's mother, Lynn, is so proud of her for all the hard work and progress
Amanda has made, and she supports Amanda's petition to terminate the conservatorship."
A judge officially terminated the conservatorship in March
2022 — nearly nine years after it took effect. The judge ruled that it was not needed anymore,
adding that Bynes had met the court's expectations and requirements in the intervening years.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the
Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness
helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.