A Timeline of Everything Amanda Bynes Has Gone Through Since Her Nickelodeon Days

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Date: June 2010

Just months before her last film Easy A hit theaters, Bynes took to Twitter to announce she was stepping away from acting and the spotlight because she didn’t enjoy it anymore. “Being an actress isn’t as fun as it may seem,” she tweeted in June 2010, along with a series of other tweets. “If I don’t love something anymore, I stop doing it. I don’t love acting anymore, so I’ve stopped doing it. I know 24 is a young age to retire, but you heard it here first.” Easy A, also starring Emma Stone, hit theaters that September.

Date: April 2012

Bynes was arrested on a misdemeanor DUI charge after getting into a minor fender bender with a police car that belonged to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The officer said that he suspected she had been drinking and arrested her for driving under the influence. Bynes was booked at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station with bail set at $5,000 and was released that same day.

The arrest was just a month after she was pulled over by cops for allegedly talking on her cell phone. The police said that she had left the scene before the deputy could write her ticket. She went to the police station later that day to sign her ticket.

Date: May 2013

Bynes was charged with reckless endangerment and marijuana possession in 2013 after her building managers called the police saying she was smoking weed in the lobby of her Manhattan apartment. When officers entered her 36th-floor apartment, they said they saw her throw a bong out of the window.

A judge dismissed the case after saying he would if Bynes complied with a request to stay out of trouble for six months and attended counseling twice a week.

Date: July 2013

Richard and Lynn Bynes filed a conservatorship petition in July 2013. In it, they stated, “We are deeply concerned that Amanda poses a substantial risk to herself, to others, and to property based on recent events in her life.”

While a judge initially delayed ruling on the petition due to Bynes being on a two-week psychiatric hold, per the Associated Press, a temporary conservatorship was ultimately granted to Lynn Bynes, Amanda’s mother, the following month. The conservatorship was originally slated to last until the end of September of that year.

Date: July 2013

Bynes was hospitalized for a mental health evaluation after she set a small fire in a driveway of a home in the Thousands Oaks residential neighborhood in California June 2013. According to the Los Angeles Times, the “authorities said she had no connection to the home.” The actor was taken into custody for her own safety and placed under a 5150 hold, California’s Welfare and Institutions Code.

Date: February 2014

According to CNN, Bynes struck a plea deal in her 2012 DUI case in connection with allegations of having hit a police vehicle. As part of the agreement, Bynes pleaded no-contest to reckless driving, while the DUI charge was dropped. At the time, a court ruled that Bynes must be on probation for a period of three years.

Date: October 2014

In a series of tweets, Bynes initially accused her father of abuse, at one point stating he was “verbally and physically” abusive to her as a child. Elsewhere in the tweets, she also claimed sexual abuse, although these allegations were later retracted by Bynes herself, who said her father “never did any of those things.” 

“My dad was verbally and physically abuse to me as a child,” she wrote, in now-deleted tweets. “He called me ugly as a child and then asked me if I wanted to have sex with him and i did not know how to respond and I said no and then I was forced to live with my dad which was a total nightmare.” 

“My dad fondled himself in front of me so many times that i started recording him on my phone in hopes of catching him saying or doing something inappropriate around me so I could get him arrested & put in jail for the rest of his perverted life,” she added. “My mom knows that my father’s literally and physically incestual towards his own daughter and the fact that she never called the police on Him embarrasses me to no end. So, today I am meeting with a lawyer to get a restraining order against my dad.” 

In a statement shared with E! News at the time through her attorney, Amanda’s mother said she and her husband were “heartbroken” to see these statements being shared on social media. “These allegations stem from Amanda’s mental state at the moment. They have no basis in reality,” Lynn said through her attorney.

Bynes later backtracked her allegations against her father, writing: “My dad never did any of those things The microchip in my brain made me say those things but he’s the one that ordered them to microchip me.”

Date: October 2014

Following a prior temporary conservatorship, in late 2014, a California court made the star’s mother her conservator again. This decision came after a judge extended her stay at a Los Angeles treatment facility by another 30 days. According to legal documents obtained by People at the time, Lynn was again given control over the estate in October.

Date: November 2014

In November 2014, Bynes said in social media posts that she had been “diagnosed bipolar and manic depressive,” according to Entertainment Tonight. She also said she was receiving treatment in connection with that diagnosis. However, several hours after making the statement, Bynes seemed to suggest that she had not intended to do so, instead blaming it on someone who had been tweeting from her phone.

Date: January 2019

TMZ reported in March 2019 that Bynes had entered a mental health facility to seek treatment for a stress-related relapse. After a few troubling months, the actor reportedly checked herself into a Los Angeles-area rehab center in January. The stress of attempting a comeback had allegedly caused her too much stress and in addition to seeking help for mental health issues, she was also reportedly receiving treatment for drug addiction.

Date: March 2022

Amid heightened attention on conservatorships at large, Amanda Bynes was released from hers after a nearly nine-year period, with a Ventura County judge formally bringing the arrangement to an end determining that it was “no longer required.” Per the Associated Press, no one contested the decision, including Bynes’ parents.

The star’s attorney explained to NPR that his client’s conservatorship, though often linked in media reports to the one involving Britney Spears, was “nothing like” that case. “Amanda’s conservatorship was a collaborative effort with her parents,” the attorney said. “There was no fighting between her and her mother or father. Everyone was working together, including Amanda.”

Date: March 2023

While some ensuing reports were quick to remove key context from the story, it was reported in March 2023 that Amanda Bynes had been placed under a 72-hour psychiatric hold, notably after waving down a car in the Los Angeles area. Bynes, at least according to TMZ, told the driver of the vehicle that she was “coming down from a psychotic episode.” She then called 911. Ensuing updates clarified that Bynes was not injured, nor was her family considering another conservatorship.