Amanda Bynes breaks her silence on filing to end her conservatorship

Easy A and She’s The Man actress Amanda Bynes has been under a conservatorship since 2013, but just a few weeks after filing to bring it to an end, she has broken her silence on the matter with a new Instagram account.

Speaking directly to camera, she uses the short video to thank her fans and alert them to her upcoming court date. “What’s up, Instagram? Amanda Bynes here,” she says, sporting black-rimmed glasses, a nose ring, a heart tattoo on her cheek, and black-grey dyed hair.  

She continues, “My court date is coming up in two weeks. I want to thank you all so much for your love and support. Peace out.” The caption to the video includes tags to some popular news outlets in an attempt to garner more attention. At press time, her new IG boasts around 1200 followers and in one of her most recent videos, she implies that she's having her face tattoo removed.

At the end of February, news broke that Amanda had officially filed court documents seeking to end her nine-year conservatorship. Her attorney David A. Esquibias told People that, “Amanda wishes to terminate her conservatorship. She believes her condition is improved and protection of the court is no longer necessary." 

Amanda’s troubles began in 2013 after she was placed under an involuntary psychiatric hold, known in the US as a “5150,” after she was caught setting a fire in an elderly woman’s driveway. She was found by police holding a gas canister and wearing singed and burnt clothing. 

She also had a string of public incidents ranging from head-scratching to criminal. She was banned from Barney’s department store after being caught allegedly shoplifting. Then, at the age of 28, she became engaged to a 19-year-old, saying at the time, “I am very needy for friendship and I hate men. I want to f**k them, but I can now say, ‘I’m engaged ... get away from me.’”

This behaviour continued online, where she used social media to claim her father had sexually abused her. She later recanted the story. And who could forget her infamous tweet about Canada’s much beloved rapper Drake, where she explicitly said she wanted the Degrassi star to “murder” her “vagina.” She later said in an interview that, while she meant what she tweeted, she was also high on drugs at the time. 

In 2014, Amanda's mother Lynn was named the actress's conservator. If your Britney-sense is tingling, it may put your mind at ease that Amanda and the Bynes family have stated their case is very different from Spears’ conservatorship case, in that Amanda’s parents fully support her application to end the conservatorship. 

Britney Spears’ 13-year-long conservatorship was terminated in late 2021 after explosive testimony from the “Toxic” singer that her family “should be in jail” for “conservatorship abuse.” Spears continues to battle with her family, after her sister Jamie Lynn wrote a tell-all book. 

As for Amanda, her court date is scheduled for March 22nd, and she has recently gotten into the perfume and fragrance business. Her IG account bio line reads, “check back for updates on new fragrance!” and as early as 2020 she had announced her plans to enter the market.

"She is investigating fragrances,” her attorney Esquibias told People at the time. “She is now considering perfume in addition to a clothing line.”