Popular child star and early-2000s actor Amanda Bynes has officially been released from her conservatorship.
On Tuesday a judge ruled to terminate Bynes’ almost nine year-long conservatorship, which began in 2013, returning control of finances, mobility and other day-to-day responsibilities back to Bynes.
Bynes, 35, initially grabbed the spotlight when she appeared as a regular performer on Nickelodeon’s All That (which aired 1996 to 2002), and later on her own program, The Amanda Show (which aired 1999 to 2002).
Bynes also starred in several 2000s hit movies like Hairspray, She’s the Man and Sydney White.
The termination of Bynes’ conservatorship was not a surprise, with the judge also issuing a tentative ruling on Monday, claiming the conservatorship is “no longer required.”
Bynes filed the petition to terminate her conservatorship on Feb. 23, with the support of her mother and psychiatrist.
In 2013, Bynes’ parents, Rick Bynes and Lynn Organ, petitioned the court for a conservatorship after their daughter allegedly set fire to a driveway and was hospitalized under an involuntary psychiatric hold.
In 2014, she revealed on Twitter that she had been diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder and manic depression.
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In 2018, she spoke candidly about her past and history of drug use in a Paper magazine interview.
“I got really into my drug usage and it became a really dark, sad world for me,” Bynes told the publication. “I started smoking marijuana when I was 16. Even though everyone thought I was the ‘good girl,’ I did smoke marijuana from that point on.”
“Later on it progressed to doing molly and ecstasy,” Bynes told Paper. She also admitted to trying cocaine a few times, though said it was never her “drug of choice.” She did however, admit to abusing Adderall.
In an exclusive statement from Bynes’ lawyer David A. Esquibias to People, Bynes spoke enthusiastically about the future.
“In the last several years, I have been working hard to improve my health so that I can live and work independently, and I will continue to prioritize my well-being in this next chapter,” she said.
The statement also discussed Bynes’ excitement about “many upcoming endeavors,” including the launch of a fragrance line.
Bynes is currently a student at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Diego, where she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree.
Another star who found fame as a child, Britney Spears, also had her conservatorship end recently, in November 2021. Spears’ conservatorship lasted 13 years, with many aspects of the singer’s finances and personal life previously controlled by her father.
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