After rising to stardom in the early nineties and featuring in some of the best rom-coms and teen shows of the time, Nickelodeon star, Amanda Bynes, seemed to have it all. Some of her most iconic roles included She’s The Man alongside Channing Tatum and Hairspray alongside Zac Efron. However, when she announced she was taking a hiatus from acting in 2010 after starring in film, Easy A, her life began to unravel.
After suffering a public mental health breakdown before claiming she was addicted to drugs, the actress, now 39, was placed in a temporary conservatorship. After years of turmoil, Amanda’s estate is now back under her control, however her mental health has seen its ups and downs as she continues to navigate new career paths and possible projects.
One of these paths is joining divisive content site, OnlyFans – although Amanda insists she’s only part of the platform to speak to her fans and not to share “sleazy photos”. So, as fans get to speak to the star, who once had the world at her feet, here’s a look inside Amanda’s troubled past – starting with her very public breakdown…
Three years after announcing she was quitting acting, Amanda experienced a run-in with police as she experienced a string of troubling public breakdowns.
At the time she was placed in an involuntary psychiatric hold after reportedly starting a fire in a driveway of a home in Thousand Oaks, California, according to reports by the Hollywood Reporter.
A fire crew was allegedly called out to a house in the posh suburb in LA amid claims Amanda had started a “campfire” in someone’s drive. The actress owned a house in nearby Calabasas.
According to TMZ: “The sheriff’s deputies questioned Amanda about what she was doing, and why she was doing it – and based on her answers they determined she needed to be hospitalised on a 5150 hold.”
Meanwhile, Captain Don Aguilar of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office told US website Hollyscoop the actress had been “detained for a mental health evaluation”, saying: “Deputies investigated the incident and determined that she met the criteria of 5150 W&I (California Welfare & Institutions Code). She was detained and taken for a mental health evaluation.” Capt. Don Aguilar of the Verona County sherriff’s department said no charges were filed.
In 2012, Amanda was accused of hitting a car in California and fleeing the scene. After being formally charged with driving under the influence, she pleaded her case directly to the then President of the United States, Barack Obama, via Twitter, saying: “Hey @BarackObama… I don’t drink. Please fire the cop who arrested me. I also don’t hit and run. The end.”
She pleaded not guilty to the charge. She was then accused of another hit-and-run, weeks later. Amanda was formally charged with two counts of hit-and-run relating to the incidents and faced up to a year in jail if convicted of both misdemeanors. She pleaded not guilty again.
The actress later reached a settlement with the two victims of the alleged hit-and-run accidents months later – with many, but not all parties, involved declaring they were satisfied with the situation.
In 2013, Amanda worried fans when she posted on Twitter, now X, that she wanted rap star Drake to “murder [her] vagina”.
The Hotline Bling star later responded, telling XXL: “I don’t even know who is doing that or what that’s about. If that is her, I guess it’s a little weird and disturbing.”
Giving her side of the story in 2017 in an interview with YouTube channel, Hollywood Scoop, Amanda said she had meant what she said, but conceded she was high at the time, explaining: “I actually wasn’t being insincere. I was saying, ‘murder my vagina.’ I was serious, but I was also on drugs. So that was my way of saying like, ‘Let’s do this, man.’ But I was on drugs and trying to be hilarious.”
In 2014, Amanda revealed on social media that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which had caused her to experience manic episodes.
At the time, she also opened up in PAPER‘s annual Break the Internet issue about her drug use, admitting that she was addicted and abusing Adderall, which is an amphetamine drug, that contributed to triggering her meltdown. She also said she had recreationally used MDMA, ecstasy, marijuana, and tried cocaine but “disliked it.”
Amanda also completely altered her appearance at the time as she dyed her hair, got new piercings – and even a heart-shaped tattoo on her face
After the child star’s erratic public behaviour, her mother, Lynn, placed her under a temporary conservatorship to protect the actress and her estate in 2013.
The judge granted this conservatorship, which Amanda remained under for many years until she filed for a petition to end it in February of 2022.
At the time, her attorney David A. Esquibias told People: “She believes her condition is improved and protection of the court is no longer necessary.” The court granted her petition and now Amanda’s estate is once again under her own control.
In May 2023, Amanda sparked worry again when she was seen roaming the streets of downtown Los Angeles in the early hours of the morning, naked.
At the time she was said to have flagged down a passing car and told the driver that she was “coming down from a psychotic episode,” before calling 911 for herself. She was later placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold – a legal intervention placed on a person when their mental state is deemed a danger to themselves or others – after being taken to a police station and was reportedly living on the streets several days beforehand.
After shunning the spotlight for the best part of 15 years, Amanda took to social media on Tuesday (16.04.25) evening to reveal that she had joined adults-only subscription service, OnlyFans – but won’t be posting any “sleazy” content.
She wrote on Instagram: “I’m doing onlyfans to chat with my fans through dm’s. I won’t be posting any sleazy content. Excited to join.” (sic)
The actress currently charges a $50 (£38) subscription fee for access to her content and, towards the end of last month, the She’s The Man star teased that something of a showbiz comeback could be on the cards. At the time, she wrote on Instagram: “Writing a screenplay with @dylan.hhn!”
The Hairspray star did not elaborate any further, and the profile of her supposed writing partner is blank, but she did make it clear that she was working on something as she filmed a series of books and papers around her open laptop.
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