Amanda Bynes. Image from Instagram / @rlamandabynes
Former Hollywood teen star Amanda Bynes has been put on a 72-hour “psychiatric hold” at a hospital in California after a supposed “psychotic episode,” a report from entertainment news platform TMZ said.
Citing an eyewitness, TMZ reported that the “Sidney White” star called up 911 on herself last Sunday (US time) after what seemed to be a relapse in substance addiction when she was seen walking naked near downtown Los Angeles.
It was later on determined by health authorities that the 36-year-old actress needed to be put on psychiatric hold.
Incidentally, Bynes was supposed to attend the ’90s Con last week in Connecticut, an event that would have marked her first public outing since the end of her eight-year conservatorship, but she cancelled her appearance for reasons unknown.
A conservatorship is when a judge appoints another person to act or make decisions for the person who needs help to manage her financial affairs.
In Bynes’ case, a Los Angeles court had granted the former Nickelodeon child star’s petition to terminate the conservatorship on her estate and assets on the ground that she had been “working hard to improve (her) health,” and on her promise to “prioritize her well-being,” moving forward. Her conservatorship had first been filed in 2013 by her parents, and the judge finally ended her conservatorship in March 2022.
Bynes became popular as a child star in the mid ’90s owing to her natural comedic timing. By 13, she was already hosting her eponymous sketch comedy show “The Amanda Show.” A favorite in headlining early 2000s teen comedies, her career began to deteriorate from 2010 onwards following news reports of her erratic behavior, including tweets announcing her retirement from acting, but then recalling such a month later to say that she was “unretired.”
In a tell-all interview in November 2018, the “She’s The Man” and “Big Fat Liar” actress opened up to Paper magazine about her experience with drug abuse and why she stopped acting, saying that she was in a “dark” place in this period of her life as she dealt with massive fame.
Image: Instagram/@amandabynesreal
“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,” Bynes said, referring to several shameful tweets she wrote while apparently under the influence.
“Those days of experimenting [with substances] are long over,” she further said. “I’m not sad about it and I don’t miss it because I really feel ashamed of how those substances made me act.”
In February 2020, she got engaged to Paul Michael, but broke up three weeks later. Nevertheless, the actress and Michael posted a sonogram on Instagram in March of what they claimed to be their baby, which they eventually deleted. Her lawyer David A. Esquibias later on said the “pregnancy” announcement was nothing but a “hoax.”
In May of the same year, Bynes announced that she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree again after undergoing treatment for her social anxiety, which caused her to drop her studies before. She was enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in California, United States, as per her Instagram post.