As we discussed on Friday, Amanda Bynes was – somehow – released from a psychiatric facility on Thursday and she was seen wandering around LA, talking to herself and generally seeming unwell. This was a strange turn of events because just a few days prior to that, Amanda’s mom and dad got another conservatorship over Amanda’s finances and medical care. Upon her release, Amanda took to Twitter and once again claimed that her father had abused her, plus she tweeted some stuff about the microcysts under her eyes and how she was going to go to court to fight for her freedom. Freedom from her parents, specifically. You can go here to read Amanda’s Twitter feed.
In any case, Amanda’s parents did go back to court to sort out what is turning out to be a massive clusterwhoops, or what could be seen as a microcosm of how our country deals with mental illness.
A judge has denied Amanda Bynes’s attempt to wrest full control of her life back from her mother. On Friday, the actress sent a lawyer, Art Santiago, to appear in court on her behalf to contest a temporary conservatorship placed by a judge earlier this month that gives her mother control over her medical and financial decisions until at least February next year.
With both of Bynes’ parents, Rick and Lynn, present in the courtroom, the judge ruled that Santiago could not legally represent the star because he is not her court-appointed attorney, thus striking out her bid for legal and financial freedom. Saying he’s been in contact with Bynes for the past two weeks, Santiago told the judge he “convinced her to voluntarily take her medication” and has been “following her progress.”
“I’ve been dealing with her for the past two weeks and believe I’m the only one she can trust,” Santiago added.
The actress was released from a psychiatric treatment facility on Thursday, three days after a judge ruled that she needed to spend at least another month there. Bynes, 28, contested her involuntary treatment three days after the court ruling in a mandatory hearing at the facility, during which a hearing officer deemed her stable enough to be released.
Bynes’s mother, Lynn, was granted a temporary conservatorship on Oct. 22, allowing her control over the star’s medical and financial decisions, but not her psychiatric treatment. After leaving the treatment facility, Bynes was spotted roaming the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles late Thursday night wearing a dark coat and large sunglasses.
She also returned to Twitter, posting erratic Tweets that insulted her family’s lawyer, her father, and sometimes-manager Sam Lutfi, who played a role in getting her into treatment. Adds a source close to Bynes: “She said she was going to fight her parents in court because she didn’t want them to control her life.”
Okay, so the court sort-of confirmed that Amanda’s mom does have the legal standing to be the conservator over Amanda’s medical care and finances. Sure. But where is Amanda? One of the last sightings of her was apparently Thursday night, when she was turned away from a hotel. According to TMZ, Amanda grabbed a wad of cash and threw it around the lobby. WHERE IS SHE?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
She’s an inpatient on the UCLA psych
ward.
She;s been going to the same diner — I’m guessing her money is low and that her phone has now been turned off.
Mamas don’t let your babies be child stars.
It’s possible her father did abuse her. Just because she’s mentally ill and saying crazy stuff doesn’t mean she’s definitely making it up. And even if he didn’t abuse the other children…she is the one who was singled out. I’m just saying, it’s possible it’s true. It might partially explain her issues.
Scuttlebutt is that she was molested by a big Disney producer that is a known pedo.
It’s also possible that she’s placing the blame on her father rather than her actual abuser.
That’s actually happened before, so it’s not unheard of.
If she has even the slightest inkling that her father knew about and allowed her to be abused, it’s understandable that she’d be calling him out as an abuser.
Poor girl. Its possible she was abused by more than one pedophile too.
You need to get your accusations straight Babalon. Bynes doesn’t come from the Disney child star factory, she comes from the Nickelodeon factory. Rumors have been circulating about Dan Schneider for years but no one has ever come forward with a criminal accusation.
Stef, it is definitely possible she was abused. And you are quite right to say that just because she has severe issues doesn’t mean she is not able to be honest. However, I from her tweets and desciptions of her behavior, she seems like she is schizophrenic. She is the right age range for symptoms to start showing. Whatever is going on, I hope they find her safe. This is horrific.
It is possible but it is also possible that this is her illness talking. Childhood abuse does not cause schizophrenia to suddenly appear in a grown women so I would take everything she says with a grain of salt. She is incapable of differentiating reality from her delusions, she is not a reliable witness at this point. If you believe she was molested, do you also believe in the microchip in her head and the micro cysts under her eyes? You can’t cherry pick which delusion you accept as “reality”, she is confused and her father doesn’t deserve to be slandered because of it.
You make a great point. I’m so suspicious of her dad just because I’m connecting the dots a certain way. Child stars so often grow up and report pressure from a parent and sexual abuse on set or by a parent, etc. Her dad, reportedly, was a stage parent working her career. The pot defense and other denials and comments her parents made to the press. Obviously I know the microchipping story is a delusion. But it’s hard to resist the urge to connect some dots while looking for a reason. Who knows what the truth is about this entire situation. I certainly don’t.
As others have said, one cannot take her statements seriously. My ex has schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and has accused me if having sexual relations with my father, brother-in-law and a college classmate who is a famous athlete. There is absolutely no foundation for these suspicions, and they all are as a result of the voices he hears in his ear. It is very unfair to her father to take her claims seriously.
I’m genuinely worried about her. With our mental health care system, I’m afraid it’s going to take her hurting herself or someone else before the court appoints a guardian ad litem (do they do that for adults?) or something so that she has the care she needs without fighting it like she’s doing with her parents.
It’s easy to laugh (or cringe) at Amanda Byne’s crazy antics, but this woman is suffering from a serious mental illness. The sad thing is, when wealthy celebrities suffer from mental illness, they rarely get the help they need. Instead, they are surrounded by sycophants (desperate for a piece of their fame and money) who only enable their destructive behavior by catering to their whims and making public excuses for them. For the Hollywood set, it’s all about appearances – nevermind the reality. We look and care for the “celebrity” and what they do for others (entertain, rake in the cash, etc…) and we seldom look at the private person. This is why we were all so shocked when Robin Williams committed suicide or when Philip Seymour Hoffman over-dosed. These people become acutely aware that people only care about their public personas and what they can do for others, but inside they are dying because their humanity is often shunted aside by their marketable personas. Their cries for help are often ignored or poo-poo’d away by publicists in fear of losing marketability. The pressure is intense. Regular folks like us don’t experience this to such an extent, but sometimes we do. We could be going through a terrible personal crisis and yet our employers don’t care. They care only what we can do for them; our productivity and capitalist value – not realizing that the two are inextricably linked. My heart breaks for Amanda Bynes because she is not getting the help she needs and I see little evidence that she will.
@Laurie-I hear what you are saying. I cared for both of my parents, who were diagnosed 6 months apart w/ terminal cancers (Lung cancer for my mom, pancreatic for my dad). During that year and a half, I missed a total of 10 days of work. My parents died 10 months apart. After my dad passed away, I only had 3 days of leave. I took an extra day. When I returned to work, I was sent to “Human” Resources to “explain myself”. I had to write a statement and sign a a paper that I would not call off again, or I’d be fired.
KRI, that is shameful.
Kri, you should have been protected by FMLA rules. Does your company not have more than 50 employees?
kri,
Your story is heartbreaking. I am sorry for your losses, appalled at the treatment you received, and I pray that you are healing from all of the above.
My father had esophageal cancer and for two years I took of one day a week to help him with doctor’s appointments. At the time, I had been working for a small company for ten years. They were extremely supportive and I was so grateful. Although I didn’t get paid leave, I did get kindness and compassion. It is so sad that others in my position haven’t been as blessed. It breaks my heart.
I just want to wish you a swift healing from so much stress and trauma. Your parents were blessed to have you as a caretaker.
I feel like for all the invasive following around/stalking of the PAPS they should/could be able to help out with this. NO one has seen her? NO one has compassion on a fellow human being to inform……..hmmm, that’s the thing. This article at least isn’t making it seem like her whereabouts are a concern. Maybe they already have her.
Yeah, maybe the paps could actually provide a humanitarian service in a case like this. Fingers crossed she is somewhere safe getting help.
Laurier, you said that beautifully. I would like to add our families, employers, the public doesn’t want to deal with anything outside the norm. Forget your trauma, your emotions, your pain, just act like everything is great and shut up. And now I’m really starting to believe Amanda was sexually abused, by who I cant speculate. But in her jumbled mind she’s drawn it out twice and put it out there for all the world to see so I tend to think there’s something to it.
This is so sad, and it speaks volumes of the level of “care” the US provides its mentally ill.
It is most definitely a fustercluck.
Amanda is ill but that shouldn’t strip her of some very basic rights. If she hates her parents, why not give conservatorship to a third party as was mentioned in a previous article? It’s possible that she has an illness and that her family has abused her, these things are not mutually exclusive. This is a shit situation either way, but if she has strong negative emotions about her parents it doesn’t seem like it’s in her best interest to give them absolute legal control over her. If she has to be under someone’s care, the option of a third party should be available to her.
I completely agree. There is just something about the parents that has made me very uneasy for some time now, and I agree that them having conservatorship doesn’t seem in her best interest.
Thank you! I’ve been saying this myself every time I’ve seen the mother walking along side Amanda she’s smiling this huge almost inappropriate smile. It makes no sense to me when her daughter is in such obvious pain right next to her. It’s just such a…. disconnect or something… but she’s already claimed there was nothing wrong with her that it was drugs and not mental illness so she’s in denial herself.
ITA and said similar thing on past thread, but people responded that other than the state (which is not a great option) there may be few alternatives to her parents. I don’t know the right answer but adults deserve the dignity of not being put back in the control of people they believe abused them.
This lawyer claims she trust him then he should know where she is.
Is it possible her father abused her? Of course
It is also possible that she is delusional and she wasn’t abused by ANYONE.
I have a mentally Ill cousin who accuses her dad of murdering a neighbor.The neighbor is still alive so my uncle can prove her allegations are false.
But we don’t know if it’s a delusion or not, so why not give her the benefit of the doubt and give conservatorship to a third party? She is not your cousin even though the diagnosis might be the same. Mental illnesses can manifest differently depending on brain chemistry, so each case is individual and patients deserve individual care.
I don’t understand why the judges won’t give Amanda a guardian who can care for her. She doesn’t trust her parents, they can’t seem to control her so why not appoint a conservator that may have better luck getting through to her?
Also, I assume that if the financial conservatorship is in place then every single penny must be accounted for so there’s little to no way her parents can take money from her without approving it with the court.
I just hope where ever Amanda is that she’s safe. I think the only thing the rest of us can do is hope and pray she doesn’t harm herself or anyone else.
I agree, it’s a really sad, messy situation.
I think it’s really wrong that a court has taken away Amanda’s right to access the earnings that she sacrificed her childhood for. She is now obviously mentally ill, and broke with nowhere to go – this can’t be in her best interests. I see it as a way to manipulate her into going back to her parents who I do believe were at least complicit in her abuse. Once she goes back to them to get her OWN money, because she will have no other options, they will promptly send her back into institutionalized care for the rest of her life. It’s just wrong.
The first time Amanda alleged abuse, her mother released a statement saying it was just so obviously untrue and she was sad for her husband. No mention of her being concerned or sad for her daughter’s mental health crisis, just sad that she had the audacity to speak anything but sweetness about Papa Bynes. Red flag. And when Papa Bynes wouldn’t let Mama Bynes go look for her daughter (this was a few days before the second 5150)? Red flag. Involving Sam Lufti in hoodwinking their child? Red flag. Somethin’ in the milk ain’t clean.
Exactly! I agree with everything you have said. I’m glad there are likeminded people because up until now it’s just been a couple of us being unfair to her poor, sweet parents.
People really seem to want to believe she was abused. Maybe she was but I can assure you that delusions like hers are very common. Why do you all believe in the sexual abuse claims but not the microchip in her head claim? She believes it. People develop mental illness despite being loved and cared for, there is no connection between a happy or unhappy childhood and whether or not you develop a mental illness. Please stop blaming her parents, the girl is sick and maybe they haven’t been perfect in dealing with it but they are the ones that have to help her. Her family is all she has and she is in no position to care for herself or make rational choices.
worst news is that she is wearing the Amy Winehouse keds. Bad sign.