Amanda Bynes Is Back And She’s Looking A Whole Lot Better
Amanda Bynes stole our hearts when she became a child star in the mid-nineties. She had it all — brains, beauty, a hit show on Nickelodeon, and then, all at once, her whole empire came tumbling down. Drugs can do that to a brilliant career, apparently.
Amanda fell, and she fell hard, but now she seems to be back on her feet. Keep reading to find out what Amanda Bynes is doing now.
Where It All Started
Amanda Bynes started her acting career on the set of All That, a Saturday Night Live-style show with an all-kid cast on Nickelodeon. SNL star Keenan Thompson actually started his career on All That too.
After All That, Amanda got her own show: The Amanda Show.
The Amanda Show
The Amanda Show was a huge hit. I remember watching it regularly back in the nineties. There was that spoof of Judge Judy where they had dancing lobsters enter the courtroom, and who could forget about Penelope, Amanda's number one fan?
The show also starred Josh Peck and Drake Bell.
A Rising Star
Amanda was hugely popular in the early 2000s. She starred in a bunch of movies, including Big Fat Liar opposite Frankie Muniz and Paul Giamatti.
I remember seeing that movie when it came out. I have no idea what it was about, but I do remember Paul Giamatti turning a bright shade of blue.
It Was All Going So Well
For a while there, it really did seem like Amanda was living a life that most kids only dream about. She got paid to be silly on stage— and she was good at it.
Through all of the success, Amanda remained down to earth and likeable, which isn't easy to do.
What A Girl Wants
Amanda grew from a precocious young performer into a brilliant young actress. At the height of her career, she starred in a film called What A Girl Wants opposite Colin Firth.
I remember watching that movie at a sleepover with all of my friends. We all wanted to be Amanda Bynes.
She's The Man
Throughout it all, Amanda never lost sight of her silly side, and the talent that made her famous in the first place. She's The Man might be my favorite thing she's ever done.
This movie is an adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and I bet you watched it in ninth grade English class.
All Grown Up
In 2010, Amanda set out to prove that she was all grown up when she posed for a spread in Maxim. This may have been the start of her long decline.
Bad things start happening when stars want to break out of their sweetheart image.
Amanda Takes To Twitter
Amanda opened a Twitter account and started having conversations with her fans. It became clear pretty quickly that something was off.
In 2013 she tweeted, "I was born with a webbing in between my eyes. That was a birth defect that I had surgically removed! My doctors are heroes who also correct kids who have cleft lip -- something as traumatic as webbing in between your eyes!"
The Tweets Didn't Stop There
She got some weird cheek piercings, started wearing wigs, and she was tweeting things like, "Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are ugly!" She had a whole bunch of tweets about celebrities she deemed ugly. Those tweets have since been taken down.
I wonder if Drake ever responded to that thing she said about him?
A Big Mess
In 2012, Amanda was arrested for driving under the influence in West Hollywood. In 2013, she was charged with marijuana possession and reckless endangerment.
Her legal issues didn't stop there. She threw a bong out of a window that was 36 stories up, and her parents had to file for conservatorship after she set a small fire in someone's driveway.
Court Appearances
Remember when Amanda Bynes showed up to court looking like this? This is when we knew things really weren't going well for the once brilliant child star.
Fortunately, things are looking better for Amanda as of late. It seems like she's finally feeling like herself again.
Where She's At Now
Amanda posted this photo on Twitter on September 10th, 2018. She looks happy and healthy, and she's wearing a seatbelt which is always a good sign.
All of her Twitter followers were so happy to see her smiling face. Now let's see what she posted on Twitter that led up to this moment.
Looking Cute
After having a very public meltdown on Twitter, Amanda returned to the platform in 2014. He first tweet was, "Hi everyone! I'm busy studying at @FIDM but I want to say I love you to my fans! Xoxo Amanda".
Amanda took a break from the spotlight and went back to school to study fashion.
Out On The Town
In 2016, Amanda took to Twitter again to update her fans on her progress in fashion school. She tweeted,
"Hi everybody! I haven't tweeted in a long time and I want to say hi! I've been really busy at FIDM, and I just finished my midterms. I am really loving school and I feel that I am learning a lot. I enjoy all of my classes and my teachers are excellent."
Accept No Imposters
In 2017, Amanda used her Twitter account to denounce all other people online who might be pretending to be her.
She said that her verified Twitter account is the only social media account that she's on, so don't believe people who claim to be her on other platforms.
Catching Up With Old Friends
This is a picture that Amanda posted on her Twitter account on September 4th, 2018 of herself with Hairspray producer Neil Meron.
Remember when Amanda played Penny in Hairspray? She really was on her way to having a pretty great movie career. Hopefully, we'll see some more acting from her in the future.
Saying Goodbye To Mac Miller
On September 7th, 2018, the world got some terrible news when we learned that rapper Mac Miller died of a suspected drug overdose. Mac was just twenty-six-years-old.
On the day of his death, Amanda posted this screenshot on Twitter, along with the caption, "I only got to know you a little bit, but you were such a sweet guy. Rest in Peace Mac."
She's Been Through A Lot
Amanda is in her early thirties now. She's grown from a child star to a mature fashion student. The road wasn't always easy though. Amanda struggled with drug use and mental illness.
Maybe that's why she identified so strongly with Mac Miller, and why his death hit her so hard.
What's Next For Amanda?
Nobody really knows what's next for this one-time superstar. I'd selfishly love to see her back in the public eye at some point. Her movies basically defined my childhood, and her sketch show introduced so many kids to improv and the sketch show format.
I know SNL came first, but I watched The Amanda Show and All That before I ever knew that SNL existed.
Stopping To Smell The Flowers
Amanda captioned this photo from April 2017, "Stopping to smell the flowers on a gorgeous Sunday!"
We are so happy that Amanda finally seems stable and happy. We wish her nothing but the best moving forward, and who knows, maybe we'll see a fashion project from her soon.
