Kids from the 90s will probably remember shows such as All That and The Amanda Show, but what’s more memorable is the leading actress Amanda Bynes. The question is what happened to her and what is she doing today? Now 36 years old, it’s been over a decade since she’s braced the big screen!
The Rise of Amanda Bynes
Born in Thousand Oaks, California, Amanda started her acting career at the age of 7 starring in the Buncha Crunch ad, a promotional commercial for Nestle candy. It wasn’t long before she took the next step by appearing on Nickelodeon’s All That, a comedy sketch show aimed at children and teens. Towards the final days of All That, Amanda Bynes featured in her breakthrough spin-off The Amanda Show.
Once “The Amanda Show” came to an end, she moved onto “What I Like About You,” but really made a name for herself in her first feature film in “Big Fat Liar.” From there on in, Amanda Bynes starred in a line of other movies, most of which proved successful at the Box Office, Hairspray and What A Girl Wants being two of the most successful. Amanda Bynes’ acting career started out well, but didn’t last as her life began to spiral out of control as she struggled to cope with fame.
The Fall of Amanda Bynes
Amanda Bynes blazed off our screens just as quickly as she came onto it. In 2010, Amanda Bynes resigned from a life of acting, admitting that problems in her personal life came to be too much to bear. So what happened?
The main reason for Amanda Bynes’s fall from grace was her drug addiction problems. The child star later confessed child stardom fuelled depression – much the same as what happened to Terminator star Edward Furlong – and to deal with that she turned to drugs to self-medicate. At first, it started with cannabis when at sixteen but moved onto prescription drugs. And it was overdosing on Adderall when her life took a turn for the worst.
Amanda Bynes finished her acting career with Easy A, during the height of her Adderall addiction, and it is then her infamous twitter rant happened. Not long after, she quit acting for good and has not yet returned to our screens. In 2018, Amanda Bynes spoke of a return to acting but that has yet to be the case. She did, however, graduate from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising with a Bachelor’s Degree.
Amanda Bynes Today
Amanda Bynes was engaged to a guy called Paul Michael, whom she met at Alcoholics Anonymous. In March 2020, she revealed on Instagram they were expecting a child together but it turned out to be fake news. Their relationship ended in 2021 but at least Amanda is doing much better now.
Bynes was released from her nine year conservatorship in March 2022. Her mother still has medical conservatorship powers but Amanda no longer has any financial constraints.
2 Comments
I just hope she is okay and wish her and her boyfriend and their unborn child well. Amanda did not just “go off the deep end” for no reason. Something in her life caused her issues. After Angelique Bates revealed how she was treated on the set of the show and admitted you have to ‘sell your soul’ I have no doubt Amanda has some childhood drama she’s struggled to deal with.
It’s a tough road in Hollywood and especially so for young actors who haven’t even had the chance to become ‘grounded”. Fairly certain initially becoming ‘popular’, having a fan base is what most dream of but then comes the reality of it all. You’re a piece of meat, you have no say and there’s more than enough vultures circling, most happy and willing to help you spend your money introduce you to drugs. Plus, if you’re the sensitive type and oh so young, it’s easy pickings! I wish her well and hope she’s been able to put away some of the money earned and try to enjoy a more normal life out of the spotlight.