Former Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes’ behavior has been baffling and disturbing for some time. Her most recent antics involve stealing her dealer’s full stash of marijuana, causing a scene at a California retirement home, and later setting fire to a random person’s driveway, at which point she also managed to douse her poor small dog in gasoline. Following that incident she was put on a 5150 psychiatric hold, which could be extended for up to two weeks. She’s also been sending out attacking and rude tweets to public figures for months.
It’s obvious she’s not well, although there’s debate as to how much she’s suffering from mental illness vs. a need for attention. I’m more in the “mental illness” camp, especially given the latest news that she’s been “hearing voices” and “talking to herself.” Outlets are reporting that she could be suffering from signs of schizophrenia.
Now there’s some good news. Amanda’s parents are working to obtain a conservatorship over her, so that they can ensure she gets proper treatment. They’re going to court tomorrow for a hearing. Amanda is 27. Here’s more, thanks to Radar Online:
Amanda Bynes‘ parents, Rick and Lynn, have lawyered up and are headed to court on Friday in Ventura County to ask a judge to grant them temporary conservatorship of their daughter, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.
According to courthouse insiders at the Ventura County Courthouse in Oxnard, “Rick and Lynn will appear before the judge on Friday to ask for a temporary conservatorship of their daughter, Amanda. Her parents will both be petitioning to be the temporary proposed conservators, and want control of her personal and financial affairs.”
Under California law, “the proposed conservator must show that the conservatee is is unable to care for themselves, and is a danger to others,” a source told Radar about what Bynes’ parents will face in their legal quest.
“When Britney’s father got conservatorship of her, she was viewed as a danger to herself and this made it much easier for the judge to sign off on it.”
But Amanda’s parents face a tough battle, because despite the former child star’s increasingly erratic behavior, which has led to her being detained with a 5150 psych hold after setting a small fire in the driveway of a stranger’s home. Bynes fled the scene, her dog covered with gasoline, and eventually was nabbed by the authorities. She can be held a minimum of 72 hours.
However, Bynes’ parents “are hopeful that the judge will take into consideration that she tried to start a fire in a stranger’s driveway, and burned her pants in the process. Her behavior is completely unpredictable, and she needs long term mental health help,” the source added.
Amanda has had enough DUIs, arrests, and documented bizarre behavior to more than warrant a conservatorship I think. TMZ reprts that she’s not going to be charged criminally for the driveway fire incident, because “cops and prosecutors view her conduct as non-criminal and rooted in mental illness.” Hopefully all of this will be enough for Amanda’s parents to get her the help she so obviously needs.
If this does go though, I hope Amanda’s parents are doing this for their daughter’s own good and not so that she can be well enough to “work” again. Britney seems fine now, but we saw what happened to her. In a way it seemed like Britney’s conservatorship and her big world tours were all about making as much money as possible for as many people as possible. At least her father seemed to have good intentions.
Amanda Bynes’ parents are shown on 7-24-2013 outside the psychiatric center where she’s believed to be being held. Amanda is shown outside court in NY on 7-9-13, in NY on 7-10 and on 5-24. Credit: PCNPhotos, FameFlynet and WENN.com. Header image from Twitter 4-29-13
Yesterday while I was reading an article about her posted on this very site, I kept thinking “Where are her parents? Does anyone not care about her at all?” I was too lazy to google if they were dead or alive, but I’m glad the latter is the case. When a celebrity starts acting crazy, it’s fun to watch for the first 2 minutes, then it just becomes a creepy and brutal car accident that we can’t manage to look away from.
I hope to God she gets help; all the help she needs.
I think her parents did try to help and that is when she moved to NY. The unfortunate thing is that not much can be done involuntarily unless she is a danger to herself or others. Hopefully she’ll get the help she needs.
I read once (I think on ONTD so I’m not sure how true it is) her parents moved from Texas back to California to help her which prompted her move to New York. She actively pushed away from them and cut off communications. I think they’ve been trying to help but sadly, once someone is over 18 it’s very difficult unless the person in question is willing to be helped.
From what i’ve read, her parents have been trying to help her ever since her bizarre behavior first started. However, she moved across the country to escape them and started bad-mouthing them to the media, tweeting that nothing her parents say should be believed by anyone because she had cut off all contact with them and was not on speaking terms with her parents.
She is a sick lost girl. I hope she gets help
To be honest I don’t know much about the situation and I hope her parents do get involved but I wonder if parents, in general, think about the consquences of either pushing or encouraging young children to get into show business.
Being in show business does not cause mental illness or drug abuse.It occurs in every race,socioeconomic class,education level,sexual orientation,occupation ,etc.As Danny Bonaduce former child actor has said he wasnt get high w Brady Bunch kids.He was getting high with neighborhood kids.Cory Montieth was getting high 14 years before Glee
Bonaduce was on th Patridge Family.
I know he was on Patridge Family and he was friends with kids on Brady Bunch.He said he wasnt using drugs with the Brady Bunch kids or any other child actors but kids in his neighborhood.
IDK. I wouldn’t want my kids to be in show business for anything. The lifestyle, the excesses, the enablers that surround them, the many personal accounts from former child actors about the rampant pedophilia that occurs, the constant buffet of drugs made available to keep them working as someone’s cash cow, and so on.
Amanda was a pretty, funny and talented young actress. My daughter loved watching her show growing up. I still feel something somewhere in her past may have triggered this. Just my thought.
Nicolette- its everywhere. In every high school. The only difference is that these kids have power and freedom, but honestly where you are and what you do doesn’t matter.
Show business doesn’t cause drug abuse or mental illness, but it DOES give shockingly young children access to very un-childlike things – drugs, sex, money – at a very early age. It’s less a question of people becoming addicts because they’re famous, more about young adults being exploited and in an environment where they’re unable to learn healthy boundaries and no longer have anyone around to tell them ‘no’.
I would be more worried – specifically – about her past working with that creepy, rumored pedophile at Disney, the man with the initials D.S.
I think that trumps the problems of just being an average kid in show business.
Dan Schneider? Works for Nick, not disney.
My mistake, Bijlee. 🙂
In a weird way, her parents were probably relieved about the fire- I think they’ve been trying to help her for a long time but legally couldn’t do anything until she became a danger to herself.
I hope for the best for all of them. What started out seeming like another entitled brat wigh DUIs and partying clearly was someone struggling with a severe mental illness. I hope the media will back off and stop treating it like comedic entertainment now.
I agree with you. From what I have read, they have been trying to contact her, but Amanda has been Tweeting some rude comments about her parents which I do not think is necessarily true. They simply couldn’t do anything for her. Now that she is on a 51/50 or 52/50 hold, they stand a better chance of helping her. Is it strange that I am terribly afraid for what has happened to her pup? Last I heard she doused the poor thing in gasoline and no one knows where it is. Does anyone have solid proof of the health /status of it?
I think tmz reported it was found safe and sound and her parents claimed it.
It definitely seems like schizophrenia. It rarer in females. Typically, symptoms appear in the late teens and early twenties in males – as it did with my cousin. It started off with minor signs here and there but after my grandmothers death, he had a full episode with visions and voices. Afterwards, he was diagnosed but won’t take his meds or keep a routine. Now, he lives on the streets and is in and out of jail consistently. Schizophrenia is tough, but especially when left untreated. I hope her parents truly have good intentions and she gets well.
The research for schizophrenia is showing that like a lot of illnesses, it seems to be a combination of “nature and nurture”. There is a genetic component that may or may not get “triggered” in an individual. Sometimes the trigger is unknown, but often seems to be a stressful situation. For my aunt, who was in her mid-20s and married with 2 young children, it was a custody battle. My cousin’s husband was also in his mid-20s, but already had lots of kids and financial worries.
I’m a nurse and out of everything I’ve encountered, the idea of becoming schizophrenic scares me the most. To be brutally honest, they scare me the most as well.
I hope the conservatorship is granted. I’ve always thought she was a danger to others with the constant DUI’s, but it had to take a fire and a mistreated dog for her parents to get the ammunition to go before a judge. A conservatorship will help her down the road careerwise. Amanda may have burned a lot of bridges (no pun intended) with her “ugly” insults and her Twitter harassment of Drake. If it’s officially found they were rooted in mental illness Hollywood will give her a second chance once she is well. If not, it will be perceived that they were all stunts to get cheap PR and nobody is going to want to work with her. I hope for the former and she gets help.
It’s sad that some people think the parents don’t care or want her to work. They have their own profession and they’re too old for this shit. I feel so bad for them. I suspect that Amanda is bipolar or something and used to take medicine, which made her act normal. Nobody just breaks down like that. Something happened and she chose to stop taking care of herself. I think that in cases like this people should never judge the family because you never know what goes on behind the scenes.
Unfortunately, people do just breakdown like that. It’s like a snowball rolling down the hill. At first, things are just off but over time, it builds and builds. Amanda could have been completely fine but then something just snapped.
People absolutely do. But Amanda has been slowly coming off the rails for a while, it seems.
Yes, people do just break down like that. It’s called Adult Onset Schizophrenia.
@Annie Yes people really do break down like that. Nice of you to assume it’s Amanda’s fault because she stopped taking her medications. Is it just less scary for you if you blame her and make it her fault? Honestly, that little comment made me incredibly mad! I’ve seen someone go off the rails like that WHILE under a doctor’s care when they were switching meds.
Annie: Yes people really do just break down like that. Nice of you to assume it’s Amanda’s fault because she stopped taking her medications. Is it just less scary for you if you blame her and make it her fault? Honestly, that little comment made me incredibly mad! I’ve seen someone go off the rails like that WHILE under a doctor’s care when they were switching meds.
Actually Anne, according to everything I’ve read, the most common onset for schizophrenia is mid to late twenties. You can be normal (or fairly normal) your entire life and then bam, you have schizophrenia. It’s unfortunate but it’s the way it goes.
Ok annie, I’m taking a deep breath bc I’m bipolar but am on my meds so I’m not too crazy…anyway many mental illnesses start in the 20s or 30s. I was 30 at Dx, though in retrospect it prob started at 28 or so. This is completely ordinary.
She’s foolishly denying mental trouble while genuinely craving someone speak up and do something to save her.. otherwise why return from NY to wander about near your parents home? “Amanda’s dealer used her bathroom while he was there and she allegedly stole his weed!” the source told Radar. … but you don’t steal from drug dealers!
“He didn’t realize at first because he’s a delivery weed service, but when he went in his bag he saw his stash was missing. She even replaced it with empty weed jars!”
Because she ran out of money she had access to, and was unable to find someone to rent to her.
When someone really loses it, they have absolutely no idea they’re having mental issues. Their perceptions ARE their reality, so when people don’t understand, you feel like they are the crazy one. Even after being correctly medicated its often hard to believe you were wrong about so many things (beliefs, auditory or visual hallucinations,etc.) Because they were 100% real to you.
This is prob why she hasn’t admitted to having a mental illness-she has no idea.
What happened to the puppy?
I heard her parents have the poor dog
She really shouldn’t have any animals in her care right now.
That’s what I’ve been wondering, too. Glad to hear it’s in someone’s care–hope it didn’t get burned badly. And no, Kitten is right–she doesn’t need an animal right now.
Poor girl, I hope she gets the help she deserves.
This situation is so sad. I hope her parents are successful and that she gets the help she needs.
As an aside, it was really disheartening to see how many people were blaming her in yesterday’s post for what is pretty clearly a mental illness. And equally sad to see so many commenters worried about the dog while not caring about her at all. I love animals and have always had pets, and they mean the world to me, but there is no comparison between a human life and an animal. I hope now that it’s clear how sick Amanda is, people are able to muster the same level of compassion for her that they had for her dog.
I agree, Esti. I think we may go overboard on our sympathy for animals, when we can’t feel empathy toward another member of the human race. Even after stories where a human is attacked by an animal, the majority of comments are viciously condemning the human for being in that situation in the first place. I understand the logic, but don’t agree with the sentiment.
Esti – I was thinking the exact same thing. I love animals and have had different pets that I adored but I can’t get over how many people seem to care more about animals than their fellow human beings. If we can’t care for one another how can we ever really look after another species? Here is a girl suffering from severe mental illness and people are more concerned about the dog having some gasoline spilled on it (which reports say was accidental). Incredible.
I haven’t been paying much attention to this because from the very beginning her behavior seemed like a serious health problem, not a drug problem like the cracken. At the end of the day, I asked about the puppy because I was concerned for both Amanda and her defenseless critter yet initial reports were vaugue about both, even the daily mail wrote that the condition of the puppy was unknown.
Most of the people who were worried about the dog were also sympathetic toward Amanda, at least in the posts that I saw.
Sorry, in a contest between a puppy and a human, the puppy wins every time.
OK, I am being somewhat facetious, but it annoys the hell out of me whenever there is a story about animal cruelty there is ALWAYS at least one comment along the lines of “but what about the starving children in Africa?”, “it’s only a dog, what if it was a human baby?” etc.
Newsflash: most people can hold more than one thought in their heads at the same time. It is possible to feel compassion for the human AND the dog.
That said, however, domestic animals are utterly powerless and are completely dependent on their ‘owners’ to protect them.
If it is true that Amanda Byrnes did indeed burn this dog during an episode of mental illness, my immediate concern IS for the dog.
Oh – and BTW – before anyone starts anything, I have a mental illness myself.
I saw the TMZ video (via Dlisted, I can NOT go to the racist cesspool that is TMZ anymore) of Amanda carrying her dog into the liquor store to try to clean it off. People please do not blame her for harming that poor dog. The video broke my heart, she was clinging the dog right to her chest and looked so sad and frightened. It’s not OK that the dog was mistreated, but it was not the actions of a cruel person. She is a sick person who probably sees that dog as the only being she can trust, and she never meant to hurt him. She’s just very very sick right now. Go look at the vid on Dlisted, it tells you everything you need to know. She’s very unwell and she loves that animal. Heartbreaking. Both she and the dog need outside help now.
+1. And the dog is reportedly fine and with her parents.
Smoky, I cant’ thank you enough for your kind, thoughtful, and empathetic comment about Amanda and her dog. I completely agree that she wasn’t trying to be malicious or hurtful to the pooch. It’s terrible reading so many awful and horrible comments about her when she’s clearly someone suffering from terrible mental illness who desperately needs help. I’m just so glad that there are others out there with empathy for others.
Poor soul. It’s so hard to help people who can’t or won’t help themselves. Good luck to her parents!
There have been reports of paranoia and hearing voices for almost a year now. This is not new information.
I’m genuinely stunned by the lack of understanding and compassion I’ve seen on these threads. The level of ignorance has been horrifying. Blaming a clearly mentally ill person for not owning her illness and getting help? Accusing her of being a jerk when she had no history of such ugly behavior before she started to publicly deteriorate? Accusing her of being an attention whore? Blaming her parents when they are on record as having been incredibly concerned for ages but powerless to do anything because Amanda is an adult? Appalling.
My heart breaks for this seriously ill young woman and her family.
What happened to the 5th paragraph in the block-quote? “But Amanda’s parents face a tough battle, because despite the former child star’s increasingly erratic behavior, which has led to her being detained with a 5150 psych hold after setting a small fire in the driveway of a stranger’s home.”
It starts with “because”, wanders off, and then suddenly a full-stop. Half the sentence is missing.
I read it 5 times and was starting to think I was going crazy.
Yep – couldn’t make head nor tail of that.
I was wondering the same thing… Glad I wasn’t the only one that noticed it!
Her parents look too old for this sh*t.
Yes, she is probably their youngest or they had her when they were older. She can overwhelm them easily, even more if she is mentally ill or high. They are going to need help. I hope they have enough money for what it comes.
she’s said some pretty mean and hurtful thinga about her parents. When they tried to come to her aid in NY, after her first episode, she refused to see them and cursed them on twitter.
I wonder if mental illiness runs in her family..
She seems both very ill and an a-hole. Much like being drunk cant make you an antisemite, Schizophrenia or whatever other condtion she suffers from isnt forcing her to harm and insult others. This condtion is bringing out the worst in her and I hope her parents can help her.
Actually, the harming and insulting others is exactly the type of behavior schizophrenia brings out in a person.
Bingo. One of my roommates developed schizophrenia and would go off on tangents calling people ugly or gay and evil. It’s so sad because he was absolutely brilliant (he could score 98% on an exam without studying) but the illness was triggered by constant alcohol and drug consumption.
It’s very possible she is both sick and a jerk. It’s also possible her illness is doing most of the talking right now. No one knows.
Amanda has not endeared herself to anyone with her acts, but we really can’t assume she is able to control them at this point. Mental illness impairs insight, impulse control and the ability to understand the consequences of your actions.
No, that is not correct. By all accounts, she was a delightful young girl. Schizophrenia is a terrible disease, because it robs you of your humanity and dignity. You become terribly paranoid and lash out in ways that normal people cannot understand. And you live in a constant state of fear and confusion, trapped in your own mind. You even believe that people are trying to poison you with medication, and that is why it is so hard to keep them on their meds. I dated a guy who’s sister was schizophrenic and we became ‘friends’ (or as close a friend as you can get with a schizophrenic who refuses to take their meds). There is a faint light at the end of the tunnel, though, as some people improve when they reach their 50’s and 60’s. It’s just that it is rare for them to reach that age. They usually commit suicide before then. 🙁
Great post. Unbelievable some of the coldness of posters about her who judge and don’t even take the time to google schizophrenia. She was a very sweet girl. I loved some of her movies also.
I guess I didn’t explain myself well. I’m saying even if she is a jerk, she deserves care for her illness. We don’t know what is causing which behaviors. I’m just saying it shouldnt matter. Just like cancer or appendicitis should be treated regardless of whether someone’s a bit of a jerk or not.
It looks like her sister has a twitter account @bynesJillian. Not sure if it’s legit, but it seems like it, from the 7 or so tweets that are there. It appears as if the family knew she was ill, but just couldn’t get through to her.
@ Chicagogurl Thanks for the info. BTW: I’m from the Chicago suburbs so we are “neighbors”.
People need to stop assuming she’s an A-hole or a jerk. Mental illness can mak any person act in a terrible manner. I have a very close friend with PTSD. I can always tell that she is starting to have a hard time because, frankly, she starts acting like a selfish brat. She is NOT a selfish brat, she is a woman suffering with a bad episode of her PTSD. People, get informed and stop passing judgement. If she really is schizophrenic then she probably has no idea how he is treating others. There are times when it is simply not right to judge someone’s behavior as if everything were normal.
I’m crossing my fingers that her parents get the conservatorship! And I’m crossing my fingers that she gets the help she needs and is able to move on from this.
My thoughts are with Ms. Bynes and her family. I hope that she will get the help she deserves and can create a peaceful healthy existence for herself. I hope that the dog was not too badly burned. It’s clear she loves the dog and the dog appears to be a support system of sorts for her. Hopefully they can be reunited when she is well. Godspeed Amanda Bynes. Godspeed and mental health.
Hmmm.
I’m amazed that we consider a conservatorship a good thing….maybe it’s the best possible option for preserving her funds…but what about preserving her as a person and a human being? And why are people like her breaking apart and needing them? We have a huge problem with mental illness and no one ever wants to look at the real issue – we look at band aid solutions that probably only make things worse in the long run.
How would a conservatorship not preserve her as a person and a human being? Do you think this is truly the person she is meant to be and how she is meant to behave? If you do, would you want her living in and driving a car in your neighborhood? Are you ok with her having access to gas and matches? Do you truly think she’s able to make lucid and reasonable decisions about her life and medical decisions if she’s really that mentally ill? Her parents can MAKE HER get the psychiatric help she obviously needs, not just control her money.
But we don’t know if her parents are a part of her problem – the conservatorship did not work for Britney. She is a shell of what she used to be…and her parents have a firm hold on the keys of her life forever. I’m saying – let’s not look at band aids, let’s focus on why people in this industry are so damaged in the first place. And it sickens me to think that what if the parents were the cause of it, or part of it? And now she’ll be controlled forever…just like Britney.
@Sarah: not everyone in HW or the entertainment business is this ‘damaged’. And I can assure you that this sort of mental illness occurs among non-entertainment people as well.
Britney’s consveratorship and Amanda’s will be two different things, of that I’m pretty sure of.
If she is schizophrenic, it is probably one of the best solutions available to her. There is no cure, only medications, which have to be carefully monitored and observed. Many people can live peaceful lives with schizophrenia, if they have the right support. Conservatorship is a great option over hospitalization if a patient can manage day to day living on their own, but often they need protection from themselves or others, especially from financial exploitation. It can absolutely preserve her dignity if she needs one.
You know what would really make things worse? If she’s allowed to just wallow in her illness until she either kills herself, kills someone else, or dies from a drug overdose. I’m sick of people acting like entertainment careers are the reason for mental illness. Open your eyes and look around, it’s f*cking everywhere. But you know where regular people end up when they either can’t get or refuse help? They end up in jail, homeless, or dead. Conservatorship is the best thing that could ever happen to her.
Thank god. Anything that keeps her crazy, terrible looking ass off the street, away from the internet and any cameras, and keeps her from behind the wheel of any cars is okay by me.
Did you seriously just use cray as a slur to insult someone who by all accounts is suffering from a mental illness? That’s absolutely vile.
Can you read? Because I said “crazy”. I think it’s absolutely vile and embarrassing FOR YOU that you have the nerve to get on people for something they didn’t even say. You may have several thousand seats. You are dismissed.
Is anyone else completely disturbed by all the details TMZ is posting about her treatment and how she’s acting? There are some serious HIPPA violations going on.
Yes, I am disturbed by this so called ‘insider information’ they seem to have. It appears they may be cahoots with someone who works at the facility.
Money talks.
Now the world knows she is seriously ill. The only drug in her system was marijuana.
This whole thing freaks me out. I mean you just never know until it happens. I really hope she gets the help she can.
Wow. Some of the negative comments in this thread is the reason why mental illness is not taken seriously in this country. It’s treated as a source of humor or judgementalism.
I really hope Amanda gets the help she needs. She clearly has real problems and her parents stepping in may be the only thing that can save her.
I have a brother two years younger than me who’s schizophrenic. Reading about Amanda sends chills down my spine at the thought of what could happen with him, but also what I’m fortunate to not have to deal with (so far). See, my brother is also disabled, and his troubles run deep for us, but because of his disability, he’s not physically capable of going on extreme tirades all over town. No, he’s limited to calling us names and telling us to go you-know-where when we ask how he’s doing and he REFUSES to take medication. Now, I don’t know precisely what she’s going through or what her family members have to endure, but I can attest to the fact that it is extremely difficult to try and care for and sorry someone who won’t accept it. To watch someone you love so much deteriorate into someone else…literally. And to sit and wait for undetermined amounts for the one you love to return, because by all other accounts, that person is a sweet, endearing, and vibrant person. I only hope that she embraces the help that she desperately needs, so that she can get back to living her life healthily before something awful happens. This story just breaks my heart…
This is typical for every day marijuana users. It happened to my brother. It’s drug-induced paranoia and erratic behaviour, I can bet!