Amanda Bynes Is Actually Doing Pretty Well Now
As Of March 21, 2022, She Is In Control Of Her Own Life Again
Photo: @rlamandabynes / InstagramAmanda Bynes was formally released from her conservatorship on March 21, 2022.
Under the conservatorship, which was put in place in 2013, Bynes' mother had control over the actress' personal and financial decisions. A judge ruled that the conservatorship is "no longer required."
"In the last several years, I have been working hard to improve my health so that I can live and work independently, and I will continue to prioritize my well-being in this next chapter," Bynes told People.
Amanda Has Taken Back Control Of Her Finances
Photo: WikiMediaIn June of 2017, the court decided that since Amanda Bynes had done so well over the past year that she could take back control over her personal finances. Amanda's mother Lynn had been acting as conservator for all of her daughter's financial dealings.
“The court felt, based on Amanda’s progress and her great relationship with her parents, there was no longer a need for court supervision of Amanda’s money and she and her family can handle her financial affairs privately,” said Bynes's attorney Nyree Kolanjian.
She's Back At Fashion School
Photo: New Line CinemaBynes sat down for an interview with Diana Madison in June 2017. The Hairspray actress had been out of the spotlight for five years and looked well. One of the first things the pair discussed was Amanda's love of fashion and her future in the industry. "I've been going to school lately, fashion school, FIDM [the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising], and I love it. I've learned how to sew, I make patterns, and I want to start a clothing line in the future."
Bynes had previously failed out of FIDM in 2014 after attending the school for less than a year. This came just days after the actress's second DUI arrest. Her first arrest for DUI occurred in 2012 in West Hollywood after Bynes's BMW allegedly hit a police car. However, that charge was dismissed in 2014 in a plea deal where the actress was placed on three years probation.
Bynes Beat The Bong Charge
Photo: Universal PicturesIn May 2013, the Easy A star showed up to court looking disheveled, wearing a blonde wig and gray sweatpants. Bynes allegedly made odd faces and even yelled at the media who were there. She was charged with "reckless endangerment, attempted tampering with evidence, and marijuana possession." There was also the allegation that Bynes threw a bong out of the window after cops showed up to her 36th Floor Manhattan apartment after detecting the smell of weed. Bynes insisted in court that she tossed a vase out of her window, not a bong.
In January 2014, Bynes was granted ACD (Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal.) Basically the child actress was given a pass by the court as long as she continued therapy and stayed out of trouble for six months. At that point, the case was dismissed. One of the issues with prosecuting the case was the police officers at the scene did not gather any evidence of a glass bong on the street.
Amanda Is Keeping Herself Healthy And Helping The Homeless
The former Nickelodeon star talked to Diana Madison about what she's been up to lately. It sounds like Amanda is keeping herself fit, healthy, and even doing some good. "I hike, go spinning — I take spinning classes — and I feed the homeless and that’s been really interesting and fun," said Bynes.
The actress's good physical and mental health is nice to see considering it was only in 2013 when Bynes needed to be hospitalized on involuntary psychiatric hold after she was spotted with a gas can on a driveway in Thousand Oaks, California. There was also a small fire nearby. Deputies deemed the actress a danger to herself or others and transported Amanda to a mental health facility on a 72-hour mental lockdown.
Bynes Explains The Whole Drake "Murder My Vagina" Tweet
In 2013, Bynes took to Twitter and posted: "I want @drake to murder my vagina."
During a 2017 interview, Diana Madison gave Bynes the opportunity to discuss the infamous tweet. Turns out the What a Girl Wants actress likes Drake but had a funny way of saying it. "I actually wasn't being insincere I was, like, saying 'murder my vagina.' I was serious, but I was also on drugs," explained Bynes. "So that was my way of saying, like, 'Let's do it, man!' But I was on drugs and trying to be hilarious."
Amanda Wants To Get Back Into Acting
Photo: NickelodeanAmanda Bynes began acting professionally when she was just seven years old. After her barrage of legal troubles and public meltdowns, she claimed that she was done with acting and ready to retire in 2010. In a recent interview, a new Amanda Bynes seemed to have had a change of heart. "I want to do TV, maybe a few guest spots on a show that I’m a fan of and maybe another TV show where I’m the star of in the future."
In a November 2018 interview with Paper, Bynes said she wants to jump back into acting "kind of the same way I did as a kid, which is with excitement and hope for the best." She doesn't want to limit herself by only going for certain roles, either.
"What's there to lose? I have no fear of the future. I've been through the worst and came out the other end and survived it so I just feel like it's only up from here," she said.
She's Getting Along With Her Parents
In 2015, Amanda's lawyer David Esquibias told People magazine that the actress was doing well. The What I Like About You star had already been released from a psychiatric facility after receiving about one month of treatment and her legal troubles were mostly behind her.
In 2017, Esquibias also stated: "Her parents are thrilled with Amanda’s progress and how well she’s been doing. They have a great relationship and have a lot of faith in Amanda."
Amanda's relationship with her parents appears to be healthy, which is incredible progress considering the actress's past series of disturbing tweets. In December 2013, Bynes posted several allegations against her father Rick Bynes on her Twitter account:
"My dad was verbally and physically abuse to me as a child," she wrote. "He called me ugly as a child and then asked me if I wanted to have sex with him and i did not know how to respond and I said no and then I was forced to live with my dad which was a total nightmare."
"My dad fondled himself in front of me so many times that i started recording him on my phone in hopes of catching him saying or doing something inappropriate around me so I could get him arrested & put in jail for the rest of his perverted life," she wrote. "My mom knows that my father's literally and physically incestual towards his own daughter and the fact that she never called the police on Him embarrasses me to no end. So, today I am meeting with a lawyer to get a restraining order against my dad."
Bynes eventually did (sort of) recant the allegations she made against her father:
"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."
She Has Been Sober Since 2014
It looks like Amanda learned her lesson the hard way. After two DUI arrests and two hit and run charges, the actress told Diana Madison that she has been sober since 2014.
Bynes spoke with Paper in November 2018, saying that this chapter of her life is in the past:
Those days of experimenting [with substances] are long over. I'm not sad about it and I don't miss it because I really feel ashamed of how those substances made me act. When I was off of them, I was completely back to normal and immediately realized what I had done - it was like an alien had literally invaded my body. That is such a strange feeling
Nikki Blonsky Is Ready To See Her Friend Get Back To Acting
Photo: New Line CinemaNikki Blonsky and Amanda appeared together in the 2007 hit movie musical Hairspray. Nikki was recently asked about Amanda in a 2017 interview. It appears that the two have remained close friends and she thinks Bynes is due for a Hollywood comeback. "She’s (Amanda) such a great friend. Another beautiful relationship I got from the movie. She’s doing well. She’s getting ready to start acting. She was one of my favorite actors growing up, and I just can’t wait to see her on the screen again."
She Has Put Her Twitter Account Pretty Much On Hold
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC-BYThese days, the The Amanda Show star rarely posts anything on her Twitter account. Her latest tweet came on April 23, 2017, and simple said: "Stopping to smell the flowers on a gorgeous Sunday."
This of course is a huge turnaround from when Amanda was tweeting some not very nice/odd things on her personal account:
She went after Rihanna: "Chris Brown Beat You Because You're Not Pretty Enough"
"I could never marry a German because I'm Jewish."
"Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are ugly!"
Bynes spoke with Paper in November 2018, and she admitted to regretting what she did on the social media platform, but she takes full responsibility for her actions:
I'm really ashamed and embarrassed with the things I said. 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... it's definitely not Twitter's fault — it's my own fault.
