Amanda Bynes had quite a career going, first as a child actress, and then rising to further fame as a young woman. From 1997 to 2010, when she turned 24, she starred in four TV shows, including The Amanda Show on the Nickelodeon Network. She also had parts in ten films, including Hairspray, as Tracy’s friend Penny, and opposite Emma Stone in Easy A. She reportedly dropped out and resumed her acting career a few times after that run, but has done little in the way of performing since. She also reportedly began studying for a career in fashion design at Irvine’s Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, a private school with four California locations.
Amanda Bynes booking photo from 2012.
However, the 2010’s saw Byrnes in trouble with the law on several occasions. A 2012 arrest for talking on her cell phone while driving was followed by a DUI when she hit a police car, and she was also charged with a hit and run. She had another hit and run incident that year, and managed to settle those cases and accept probation. She did get caught again, however, while driving with a suspended license.
2013 saw arrests for marijuana possession in New York, and a strange incident in Thousand Oaks in Ventura County, when she was caught setting a fire in a stranger’s driveway. After a mental health evaluation, and a stay at a mental health facility, she was released to the care of her parents.
THZ reported on October 1 that Bynes was failing at school. They quoted classmates as saying she would show up to school “clearly high”, wearing sunglasses all the time and laughing at inappropriate times. She even paid other students to do homework for her, and was caught cheating on a test. They state sources who say she was kicked out of the school last month.
Bynes got to a red light at this intersection, and stopped in the middle.
Perhaps it is no surprise that Bynes was in trouble once again last weekend. As Saturday night turned into Sunday morning, Bynes was driving her white Mercedes Benz GL 450 through Sherman Oaks on Riverside Drive, over 50 miles from her current home in Irvine, which is near the Fashion Institute campus. She was, however, just a few miles from her other reported residence in a Calabasas gated community.
She was near the 101 Freeway on-ramp when she got to a red light at Riverside and Van Nuys Blvd., and stopped late, right in the middle of the intersection. Being 3:45 in the morning, with very little traffic about, her maneuver caught the attention of a Highway Patrol officer, who initiated a traffic stop.
The officer observed that she appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and administered a filed sobriety test. She failed, and was taken to the Woodland Hills West Valley CHP office for further evaluation by a staff Drug Recognition Expert officer, and subsequently arrested for 23152(e) – driving under the influence of a drug. She was booked at the Van Nuys jail at 7:06 in the morning. Officers reported that she was cooperative during the entire process.
Update 10/07/14: Amanda Bynes has now resumed her Twitter Account – @AmandaBynes, and today posted messages to her followers, including “Don’t believe anything the tabloids are saying about me. They dislike me for some odd reason & they continue to insult me everyday.” and later “I’m transferring to NYU or Columbia from FIDM to study psychology, so you’ll see me in New York if you live here but I HATE stalkers!”
