While Amanda Bynes may be best known for her former recurring role on Nickelodeon’s All That, the actor made waves in recent years thanks to some eccentric behavior. Bynes was arrested for multiple DUIs in 2012 and 2014. In 2013, she tossed drug paraphernalia out the window of her high-rise New York City apartment (which led to yet another arrest), and during this period, the actor also posted a slew of bizarre and at times malicious tweets, including one accusing her father of abuse. But now, Bynes is opening up about this dark time.
In a recent interview with Paper, the former child star admitted she battled drug addiction, something she struggled with for many years.
“I started smoking marijuana when I was 16,” Bynes told Paper. “Even though everyone thought I was the ‘good girl,’ I did smoke marijuana from that point on.”
That said, the actor wasn’t addicted to marijuana. “I didn’t get addicted and I wasn’t abusing it. And I wasn’t going out and partying or making a fool of myself… yet.” However, as time went on, Bynes admits that changed — and she changed.
“[I] progressed to doing molly and ecstasy,” Bynes said. “[I tried] cocaine three times but I never got high from cocaine. I never liked it. It was never my drug of choice.” But Adderall? “I definitely abused Adderall.”
Bynes learned of the drug after reading a magazine article about it. The article called Adderall “the new skinny pill,” Bynes said, and in it, “they were talking about how women were taking it to stay thin. I was like, ‘Well, I have to get my hands on that,” which she did.
Bynes admits she obtained a prescription for the drug after going “to a psychiatrist and faking the symptoms of ADD.” But before long, things spiraled out of control.
“When I was doing Hall Pass [in 2010], I remember being in the trailer and I used to chew the Adderall tablets because I thought they made me [more] high,” Bynes said. “I remember chewing on a bunch of them and literally being scatterbrained and not being able to focus on my lines or memorize them for that matter.”
Shortly afterward, Bynes quit Hall Pass and acting in general, which the star announced on Twitter.
“I’m really ashamed and embarrassed with the things I said [on Twitter],” Bynes told Paper. “I can’t turn back time but if I could, I would. And I’m so sorry to whoever I hurt and whoever I lied about because it truly eats away at me. It makes me feel so horrible and sick to my stomach and sad. Everything I worked my whole life to achieve, I kind of ruined it all through Twitter. It’s definitely not Twitter’s fault — it’s my own fault.”
The good news is Bynes is sober now and has been for four years. What’s more, she is currently enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and, after graduation, she hopes to release a clothing line.
Bynes also admits she would like to get back into acting… someday.
As for others who are struggling, Bynes has some advice: “My advice to anyone who is struggling with substance abuse would be to be really careful because drugs can really take a hold of your life… you could lose it all and ruin your entire life.”
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