The star reportedly called 911 on herself after a “psychotic episode.”
Former actress Amanda Bynes has faced a tremendous amount of tabloid attention over the last decade, and now she’s being applauded for taking action in the midst of a personal crisis.
On Sunday, the film and TV actress — known for starring in massive box-office hits throughout the 90s and 2000s — was walking around downtown Los Angeles without any clothes on when she flagged down a passing car and told the driver she was coming down from a “psychotic episode.” She then called 911 on her own and was taken to a nearby police station, where a mental health team placed her under a 72-hour psychiatric hold. Now, fans are voicing their support for how she handled the stressful situation.
The actress has hit a rough patch recently, after backing out of what would’ve been her first public appearance since the end of her eight-year conservatorship. Bynes said she had been looking forward to taking part in the 90s Con event in Hartford, Connecticut last weekend, alongside some of her former Nickelodeon costars (as well as other icons of the decade, like Jennie Garth, Melissa Joan Hart, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar). But she ended up canceling last minute due to an undisclosed illness and Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson ended up taking her place.
“I’m really excited to reunite with my castmates and meet the fans at 90s Con,” the 36-year-old star had told PEOPLE in the lead-up to the highly anticipated event.
When did Amanda Bynes’s mental health struggles first start?
Bynes landed her first breakout role when she was just 10 years old, starring in the Nickelodeon kids’ sketch comedy series All That. The show was such a success that she was awarded a self-titled spinoff, The Amanda Show, just three years later. Before long, she transitioned into a teen on-screen queen carrying hit films like What a Girl Wants in 2003 and starring in She’s the Man, alongside Channing Tatum, in 2006. But fans started to see a different side of the star in 2012, when she was arrested for driving under the influence.
The latest incident isn’t the first time Bynes has been placed under psychiatric observation. In 2013, she went to a mental health facility following a series of run-ins with the law, including driving on a suspended license after her DUI charge, throwing a marijuana bong out of her Manhattan apartment window and allegedly starting a fire in her neighbor’s driveway. That same year, she went on a series of Twitter rants, calling various celebrities “ugly” (a stunt for which she later apologized). A year later, she announced on the platform that she’d been diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder and manic depression.
Amanda Bynes’s recent recovery
Despite facing a surfeit of challenges, the former child star the made real progress in the last few years: She sought mental health and drug treatment before graduating college in 2019. Plus, just last March, her nearly decade-long conservatorship was terminated, and she was able to get back to managing her own affairs again, with the support of her parents.
But following this recent incident, a source said the actress hadn’t “been in contact with her family for quite some time,” and that her ex-fiancé Paul Michael said she had been “off her meds” before being found wandering naked in LA. That said, her mom and dad are reportedly “taking comfort” in the news that she was proactively getting herself the help she needed, and fans are rallying behind the actress.
“It’s incredible that she was able to do this herself. Very proud of her and hoping she has a fantastic, safe recovery,” one user tweeted. “You got this girl.”
