Inside Amanda Bynes' Quiet Life Out of the Spotlight
Truly no one would fault Amanda Bynes if she chose to sign off social media and never look back.
After all, she points to that first tweet—the 2010 missive that saw her hastily announce her retirement from acting, a knee-jerk reaction to what she considered a poor performance in that fall's teen rom-com Easy A—as the beginning of the end.
From there, fueled by an over-dependence on marijuana, she shared her unvarnished takes on everything from Chris Brown and Rihanna's relationship to her hopes that Drake would you-know-what her you-know-what.
"I'm really ashamed and embarrassed with the things I said," she admitted in a November 2018 sit-down with Paper, her first in-depth interview in years. "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."
So if she were to ditch that blue check mark for good, we'd get it.
For now, though, it's just a brief hiatus. Bynes' attorney David Esquibias told E! News the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising student is "taking a break from social media to focus on her creativity and studies."
Because whether or not she's sharing it with millions of followers, things in the 35-year-old's life are clicking along pretty steadily. An associate's degree in hand, she's working her way toward her bachelor's from FIDM, plans to make her mark in fashion and possibly get back on screen still in motion.
"Taking online classes, trying to get a 4.0 GPA," she proclaimed last May when she was still sharing such things with her Insta cohort. "Looking forward to starting my online store in the future #goals."
She'd spent the previous two months in treatment working "on coping skills to help with my social anxiety that caused me to drop out of school months ago," she continued. "Back on track and doing well!"
Her 18-month romance with fiancé Paul Michael is still on the forever path as well, Bynes' future husband joining her family and a small circle of friends for the Nickelodeon vet's quiet April 3 birthday festivities.
"We take good care of each other and we're understanding of one another and she is a good listener and we're there for each other," Michael detailed to E! News in December when asked what makes their relationship work. "We have the best time and I love spending every second with her. She is the best thing that ever happened to me."
A year and a half in, the couple hope that they've moved past their growing pains.
Four months after meeting at a sober living facility, the pair announced their engagement, appropriately enough, on Valentine's Day 2020, Bynes treating her followers to an up-close-and-personal look at her new emerald-cut diamond. But weeks later she and her "drop dead gorgeous" guy, "the best person on the face of the earth," suddenly split.
Within hours, though, they were back to being loved up online and dropping bombshells, Bynes sharing in mid-March that she was pregnant.
It was quite the whirlwind. But by May, her attorney was clearing the air, telling E! News that Bynes wasn't expecting, though she was focused on her health, seeking treatment for what he called "ongoing mental health issues."
As for her romantic affairs, they were very much in order, the actress reminded fans, writing in her May Instagram update, "Still engaged to tha love of my life Paul."
Though their betrothal crossed the one-year mark this past February, friends aren't predicting a walk down the aisle anytime in the near future. Even Michael says they're more focused on a different relationship milestone.
With Bynes residing away from him in a sober living community and coronavirus throwing the entire wedding industry for a loop, "We are limited to what we can do in this pandemic," Michael admitted to E! News.
But they talk about moving in together "one day," he continued, sharing that it's a topic of conversation during their daily walks to get coffee. Quite simply, he summed up, "We're doing great."
Their bond is certainly supportive and carefree enough for Bynes to feel comfortable, say, dropping a track that sees her rapping about "Diamonds, diamonds, diamonds on my neck, on my wrist."
The January release, which included a feature from Michael, came about for the same reason anyone has done anything in this past year. "Amanda is stuck at home and bored like everyone else," attorney Esquibias explained to E!. "She is just having fun, trying to lighten the mood."
So while a source told E! News the actress is "expressing herself" through her music, she's not planning a major professional swerve: "She is still at FIDM pursuing a career in fashion as she has been."
It's a crucial steadiness after years of upheaval, driving charges and arrests for incidents like allegedly throwing a bong out of a New York City apartment window, missteps Bynes attributed to her drug use.
"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," she reflected years later in Paper. "Everybody is different, obviously, but for me, the mixture of marijuana and whatever other drugs and sometimes drinking really messed up my brain. It really made me a completely different person."
Her lowest point saw her placed on a 5150 hold in July 2013 after starting a fire in the driveway of a stranger's California home and inadvertently dousing her Pomeranian in gasoline. By that fall, mom Lynn Bynes was brought in as conservators over the Thousand Oaks, Calif., native and her estimated $5 million estate.
Since then, the actress has settled two hit-and-run cases, struck a plea deal for her 2012 DUI arrest, had her bong-tossing case dismissed, undergone various treatments and, in 2019, floated the idea that she might spend some time staying in a sober living community. There, the now-two-years-sober star "has a great support system with the other people there who are also in recovery," a source told E! News. "They all support each other."
Of course, it's Michael who's taken on the role of her most ardent champion.
"He's actually a great influence on her," a source told E! News in December. "He's an advocate for her sobriety, and he's just a really wonderful, nice person. She's definitely been in a much healthier place. She's on great terms with her parents right now, too."
So while cohabitation is a ways off, marriage further still, "They spend a lot of time together," the source continued. And between her beachfront community, meditation habit and frequent SoulCycle classes, "Overall," said the source, "Amanda is doing great right now."