Amanda Bynes Is Back And No One Expected Her Next Move

Amanda Bynes enrolled in the California Fashion Institue of Design and Merchandising, graduating in 2019. After receiving her associates of art degree in product development, the former child star posted a teaser of what was to come on her Instagram account months later. In the post, she thanked all of her followers for their support and revealed that her dream was to start her own clothing line, with the hope that her designs would soon be available online.

Amanda Bynes hasn’t been in the spotlight much since her abrupt departure from film and television. Her last movie credit was the 2010 teen comedy film Easy A, while she hasn’t done any television since 2008’s Lifetime TV movie Living Proof. Once considered a child star with great potential for keeping the momentum going for a breakthrough as a successful adult actress, Bynes’s life took some unexpected twists and turns in the late 2000s that derailed her career.

Amanda Bynes began having substance abuse issues that culminated in her 2012 arrest in West Los Angeles for driving under the influence. Less than a year later, she was arrested in Manhattan for reckless endangerment and drug possession charges after being accused of smoking marijuana in the lobby of her apartment building, then throwing her water bong out the window of her 36th-floor apartment. The charges were dropped a year later.

The actress also suffered greatly from mental health issues, which combined with her drug and alcohol abuse to halt her career. After setting a small fire in the driveway of a person unknown to her in 2013, Amanda Bynes was placed on a 72-hour medical hold. Shortly afterward, she was placed under the conservatorship of her parents by a judge.

The conservatorship continued until 2022 when she was legally released from it. She maintains that her bipolar disorder is under control with medication and that she has been sober since 2014. Her legal conservatorship is reminiscent of the one by another former child star and singer, Britney Spears, whose father was able to legally control her estate for 13 years until a judge ended it in 2021.

Though Amanda Bynes hasn’t been on the big or small screen in nearly 15 years, the former actress dipped into the podcast world briefly in late 2023. Together with her friend Paul Sieminski, the two worked on a series that unfortunately only garnered a single episode. That lone endeavor featured tattoo artist Dahlia Moth and was available on the Amand Bynes & Paul Sieminski: The Podcast YouTube page.

Amanda Bynes announced the podcast’s hiatus on her Instagram story, stating that until they can get the types of guests committed to appearing, that the show would be temporarily disrupted. While there’s no commitment at this time for the show’s continuance, fans of the actress (and now artist) can get a peek at what she’s been up to by visiting Austin Babbitt’s website, where a preview of her artwork and t-shirt design collaboration can be seen.

Sources: People