Amanda Bynes details struggle with drug abuse, says she is nearly 4 years sober

After years out of the spotlight, Amanda Bynes is enrolled in fashion school and is nearly four years sober.

In this Sept. 13, 2009, file photo, Amanda Bynes arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York.  Image: AP FILE PHOTO/PETER KRAMER

The actress, 32, gave a tell-all to Paper magazine about her experience with drug abuse and why she stopped acting in an article published today, Nov. 27. 

Millennials would know her as a stand-out in her generation, thanks to her natural comedic timing. By 13, she hosted her eponymous sketch comedy show “The Amanda Show.” Bynes was a favorite in headlining early 2000s teen comedies such as “Big Fat Liar,” “What a Girl Wants” and “She’s the Man.”

But from 2010 onwards, news reports documented erratic behavior including 2010 tweets that stated she had retired from acting and that, a month later, she was “unretired.”

She would be arrested for driving under the influence and was accused of hit-and-runs. She also became notorious on Twitter for attacking other celebrities and for threatening the media. She would deny that she was on drugs, despite being arrested on drug charges in May 2013.

In the Paper interview, she reiterated that she didn’t drink alcohol, as she disliked its taste. But she owned up to her drug abuse and to the problematic behavior with much remorse.

She said she started smoking weed at 16 and later on experimented with harder drugs like Molly and ecstasy. When she found out about Adderall, which was labeled as a “skinny pill,” she got hooked on it, too.

Her drug abuse would kill her career, forcing her to drop out of the 2011 film “Hall Pass” when she couldn’t perform properly while high on marijuana.

Without work, she felt she had no purpose in life. To fill the void, she spent her days getting stoned at home while watching TV and tweeting.

“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,” she said in the interview.

“Those days of experimenting [with substances] are long over,” she promised, crediting her parents for helping her recover. “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,” she said.

Bynes plans to return to acting and hopes for different types of roles. She enrolled in the Los Angeles school Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in 2014. This November, she will earn her Associate of Arts degree in Merchandise Product Development and will take a bachelor’s degree in January.  Niña V. Guno /ra

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