The strange case of Amanda Bynes: From 'Hairspray' to face tattoos, how it all unravelled for the child star
Amanda Bynes was once a household name, having achieved success very young. With her girl-next-door semblance, wicked talent and incredible comedic timing, she easily rose to fame becoming America's sweetheart in the 1990s and 2000s. She began her career starring on the hit Nickelodeon show, 'All That', and thereafter in its eponymous spin-off series.
Bynes also starred as a regular in 'What I Like About You', from 2002 to 2006. She got her big break in the film industry through blockbusters like 'What a Girl Wants', 'She's the Man', 'Hairspray', and 'Easy A'. But by 2010, things had begun to go downhill for the actress.
It turns out that being thrown into the spotlight at a tender age and subsequently being catapulted to stardom had devastating consequences for Bynes. The reason for her downward spiral hasn't come to light, but it was drastic enough for her to turn to drugs in order to stabilize herself and her rapidly deteriorating mental health. The 33-year-old is almost unrecognizable now from the bubbly young girl that she used to be.
Her troubles came to the public domain in 2012 when she had a breakdown on Twitter, followed by a DUI charge that was dropped two years later on receiving three years of probation. A year later, she was arrested for marijuana possession when she was caught smoking a joint in the lobby of her Manhattan home and allegedly threw a bong out of the window of her 36th-floor apartment.
It only got worse from thereon. Later that year, she was detained for allegedly starting a fire in a stranger's driveway. As a result, her parents were granted temporary guardianship and she was sent to rehab for 6 months for displaying erratic behavior.
These incidents shocked her fans and the world but pinpointing her as the sole reason for her fall from grace, wouldn't be valid. Hollywood had managed to break Amanda Bynes, and the negative media coverage that she often received wasn't helping her one bit. Instead of being sympathized with, she was belittled, and she went off her rocker.
In 2014, she took to Twitter to fire off several tweets accusing her parents of emotional and sexual abuse, only to retract them later claiming "the microchip in my brain made me say those things but [her father's] the one that ordered them to microchip me."
Her experience with substance abuse was shocking because she had begun smoking marijuana at age 16. By the time she was well into adulthood, she had experimented with serious drugs and become severely addicted to Adderall. The 'skinny girl' drug gave her the high that she soon got very accustomed to.
Bynes was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and began her tumultuous journey to end substance abuse. She enrolled herself at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise to pursue a Fashion degree while trying to get her life back on track but dropped out soon after.
Albeit, over the past couple of years, Bynes has taken time off from Hollywood, gotten engaged to her boyfriend of a few months, and tattooed a crooked heart on her cheek. Fans still express worry over her actions and hope that she may not be falling into old patterns since the face is an odd place to get a tattoo. But iIt could be a symbol of self-expression, while she's keeping healthy and following a definite path to sobriety. We hope it's the latter.