Former child star Amanda Bynes, 31, was in a very rough place from about 2012 to 2014. Her behavior was erratic, with multiple reports of her talking to herself in public, she received two DUIs, one after she sideswiped a cop car, she had several hit and runs with her car and her tweets were concerning and bizarre. Plus there was an incident where she set fire to a pair of pants in a stranger’s driveway. She was put on a 5150 hold, went to rehab for three months in 2014 and then enrolled in fashion design school. Her parents then obtained a conservatorship over her. We haven’t heard much from Amanda in some time but that just changed as she did her first interview in years.
She talked to Hollyscoop and said that she’s been sober for three years and that she was doing a lot of drugs when she made some bizarre tweets, like the time asked Drake to murder her vagina. You don’t have to be on drugs to tweet that, which was pretty much what she said and she was so laid back and funny about it. She looks and acts like a completely different person. I was so impressed by her! She said she loves fashion school, that she’s learned to sew and that she wants to start a clothing line. She’s into spinning and hiking and doing charity work with the homeless. Amanda did this interview to try to get back into acting and said she’d like to get back into TV.
When you told Drake to murder your vagina?
I actually wasn’t being insincere. I was saying “Drake, murder my vagina.” I was serious but I was also on drugs. So that was my way of saying “let’s do it, man.” I was like, on drugs and trying to be hilarious. He’s hot.What’s it like to get your vagina murdered?
I don’t know. It just means like ‘f-k me, Blake.’Did Blac Chyna really steal your look?
I stole her look. I was getting the microdermals in my cheeks because she had them. I thought they looked super hot on her. I never said that she stole my look. I’m a fan of hers. She’s adorable.
[From Hollyscoop video]
Amanda never explicitly said “I’m three years sober” and it sounds like outlets are making that assumption, which seems logical given when she started going to school after rehab. I would say she’s coming up on three years this fall, given the timeline. I remember the videos of Amanda and the photos she was posting and she has changed so much. It’s refreshing to see a child star achieve sobriety and come out the other side. She reminds me of Britney Spears’s story and how Britney turned it around completely too. I have a friend who is in the same place Amanda was and it’s sad and scary to see her that way. Unless her family intervenes there’s nothing anyone can do and we’ve tried. It’s a lot of work to not only get sober but to work through your issues to stay that way. Amanda has obviously been working on herself and it shows.
Amanda has recently been legally granted financial control over her estate again. Her mother, Lynn, had a financial and personal conservatorship over Amanda and the financial part has been lifted. Lynn Bynes still has a conservatorship over Amanda’s person, which People describes as having control of “health and medical decision-making” for Amanda.
Here’s Amanda’s full interview. The Drake “murder my vagina” stuff comes at 3:00. She’s drinking tea when she says that and it’s cute.
Amanda in 2014
Amanda in 2014
photos are screenshots and also credit: WENN
She looks good and I’m glad
Me too. Good for her, it’s a struggle to keep going forward sometimes.
She does look more “settled”. Drug addiction is an insane experience, but combined with social media it’s accelerated. Every thought and every impulse is recorded for millions of people who then give feedback. I feel for the addicts in this era, and recovery is either quick or that much more difficult to achieve. Wonder if some day social media will require a clean UA.
i love her and she is so talented. She has made some teeny movies that still hold up.
I hope she can start getting some guest spots, but seeing the video I am still a bit hesitant, if that is the right move for her. She seems vulnerable.
I agree. She is so talented and I look forward to her comeback, but she needs more time. Put her back in, she’s not done yet.
She looks a whole lot better. I wish her well .
She’s still cray-cray — and dead behind the eyes.
overmedicated like Britney
Dual diagnosis?
*hides behind the armchair I’m diagnosing from*
Yes. I work in the mental health world and her entire breakdown seemed fueled by mind, not just drugs. She also said her dad victimized her sexually. Well, she was a sick young lady. I’m glad things are turning around. Everyone deserves another chance, after doing their “work.”
Ugh she probably is struggling with mental health issues but that’s not a value judgment on her personhood and good for her for coming back to the spotlight. I’m pretty sure insensitive comments like this are the reason she’s not currently ready to speak about that piece of the puzzle but I hope one day she does. And if she’s found the right medication that allows her to make steps to restart her career-great.
“Cray-cray”? Is that the insensitive, ignorant way of saying mental health issues? Yes, she is probably still under a doctors care and that is why her mom still has conservatorship over her medicines. I say good for her for staying in school and for waiting this long to start doing any interviews I wish her the best.
Wow, “cray-cray” – how disrespectful.
If she has schizophrenia, she’s probably on antipsychotics, and you don’t need to be actually “overmeditated” for it to look like you’re. I know someone with schizophrenia and he was never the same again, nevermind the relapses – and he was someone you would already label as high-functioning schizophrenic. It’s an awful disease.
Yup. I am a mental health professional. I wouldn’t wish schizophrenia on my worst enemy. It can be an incredibly difficult condition to manage and the medications aren’t fun, but necessary.
Thank you. I was about to respond to the “cray-cray” comment myself. As someone with bipolar depression, that expression makes me seethe. It’s just an incredibly hurtful, dehumanizing term aimed at a very vulnerable, stigmatized, and largely undefended minority.
I hope this works out. I always liked her growing up – and it was such a shame to see what kind of mess she was in. I hope she’s going to do whatever she can to stay on this path – her parents seem to genuinely care about her. I think it’s a good sign that her mom still has some of the conservatorship on her – just in case.
For whatever reason, I have a soft spot for her. Glad she’s doing well!
Me, too. I actually really like the movie “What a Girl Wants.” She’s so funny & charming in it, and it’s just a really cute movie (having Colin Firth in it doesn’t hurt, either). I’m glad she’s well and I hope she stays on that path.
Am I the only person who thought the interviewer was really annoying? Glad to see an Amanda update though.
Super annoying! It was like watching a valley girl.
Haha yes. She was so annoying and I laughed when Amanda said she was stunning. God no, not everyone has to be stunning and that’s OK. It doesn’t define your worth as a person!
That was pretty much all of my thoughts throughout the whole interview. She was SUCHa valley girl and trying so hard to be cutesy and just was really kissing Bynes’s ass in the most sickeningly fake sweet cutesy obnoxious way. Terrible interviewer.
To me it was pretty obvious that the entire interview (possibly minus Amanda’s response to the Drake tweet) was scripted and rehearsed. It was very painfully delivered and a *highly* edited video too. Supposedly this interviewer is Amanda’s friend and the interview was a favor for each to the other, so it makes sense they stage managed the entire thing.
So annoying.
Glad Amanda is doing better. I wish her continued health and wellness with her recovery.
I’ve always loved her. I grew up with Amanda– All That, The Amanda Show, and all of her amazing young adult rom coms. I’m so glad she’s in a better place. She looks so much healthier. Wishing her success as she continues to forge her path ahead.
So happy to see her well again. I grew up with The Amanda Show and She’s the Man, so it was devastating to see her spiralling downwards. I’m still disgusted by the way social media and the general public responded to her episodes. It felt so exploitative of such a vulnerable person.
I’m glad if she is really doing better, but it worries me that she is out here trying to get attention again.
As others have stated above, like other people from my generation I grew up on “The Amanda Show”, “What a Girl Wants”, and “Big Fat Liar,” so Amanda’s always been a part of my childhood and I’m so glad that she apparently feels healthy enough to start her career up again. Nothing but love from me!
Good for her. I was just thinking about her the other day. My 22-year-old son used to watch ‘The Amanda Show’ as a kid and had a little crush on her LOL I thought she seemed so sweet and talented.
That’s how I remember her! Like a young Carol Burnett!
Were we watching the same interview?? I think she seemed totally zonked out on Xanax or something. It was kind of awkward. Am I the only one?
I don’t know. Amanda seemed perfectly normal to me. In comparison to that goofy, annoying interviewer perhaps she seemed too calm and articulate. But that’s a good thing.
Right there with you, VH… :/
She just looks so
Different!
I love her and hope she is well
I think it’s the medication if you’re talking about her face looking puffy.
I hope she’s another success story like Britney Spears. I think it’s great to see someone who’s gone through so much come out on the other side.
Bluhare
Yes to the puffy
And obviously she isn’t that thin young starlet anymore note should she
But did she also have work done?
Maybe it’s just that awful blond hair?
She just looks very different.
I truly hope she has a comeback. I actually loved that show What I like about you! ANd I loved What a girl wants. And the movie with a Channing where she’s a “boy”.
I adore her. broke my heart to see stories detailing her rapid downward spiral. hope she keeps her $hip together
At least she’s honest.
Refreshing, isn’t it? Especially the Blac Chyna thing. We all do dumb stuff, esp when not sober. Just own it.
So, Illness aside, this girl wants a page outta the Kardashian Playbook? let me look like Blac Chyna but in white and tell Black dudes to come at me?? I.. Ok>.. OK.. * goes away to rub temples*
Plus the interviewer is annoying. Did she really ask if Chyna stole her look?? When Chyna had this look for years?? She needed to do her research. But what’s new though.. same ol
I’m also wondering why they focused so much on the Drake tweet as if that was the worst thing she said. Does everyone forget all the horrible racist things she said!?!?!?
I am very happy she is doing better but I am very surprised she didn’t say something like “I wish I could take back some of the wrong things I said while I was on drugs” or something to that effect. Maybe that will come in the future?
Oh please. I normally like your comments, but are you *seriously* bringing racism into this? B/c a white girl has a black style icon and had/has a crush on a half black rapper, she’s—what?–an ignorant, offensive, oblivious white bigot guilty of cultural appropriation? I can’t even begin to go on…It’s just not worth it.
Ugh. Awful interviewer. Stop giggling loudly and interrupting your guest.
I’m glad Amanda is doing better tho.
No, no, she still sounds quite weird. Microdermals???
Microdermals is just the name of a type of piercing.
I remember seeing a couple of her movies and she is SO talented! Sometimes artists have a hard time with real life, especially with fame and money. I normally don’t feel sorry for rich famous actors, but in her case I think it was genuinely overwhelming.
Lest us not forget she came out of the Nickelodeon (producer Dan Schneider pedo playground). We all know that there abuse, sex and drugs on these Disney/Nickelodeon kids show tv sets. Poor gal. hope she gets better
Yeah…I was thinking that too. Child star.
I am glad Amanda is doing better. She seems much healthier. I really thought she has good comedic timing.
I hope she gets some work.
That is the worst interviewer ever. So fake and gross.