Amanda Bynes is the latest ‘break the internet’ covergirl of Paper Magazine, and you can finally breathe easy knowing that she is very much OK. In fact, Amanda Bynes is doing great, and looking incredible.
This is the comeback we’ve been rooting for.
Amanda Bynes is back pic.twitter.com/TI0uz7tqdh
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 26, 2018
In the feature interview, she chronicles her career as a child star up to her infamous 2008 breakdown, and the insight she shares is actually really heartbreaking.
She opens up about struggling with body image and sites the pressure to be thin as what drove her towards Adderall. She admits her abuse of Adderall was the reason for her erratic behaviour.
“Around the time of Hairspray, she remembers “reading an article in a magazine that [called Adderall] ‘the new skinny pill’ and they were talking about how women were taking it to stay thin. I was like, ‘Well, I have to get my hands on that.’”
this is a comeback i’ve been rooting for. i can’t remember the last time i saw amanda bynes smile. pic.twitter.com/0yf8lMtPLl
— Jill Gutowitz (@jillboard) November 26, 2018
It’s honestly really upsetting to hear how the beautiful, vivacious and talented young star who was so beloved, came to have such a difficult relationship with her body. In the context of the hyper-critical public eye, it’s an easy trap to fall into, especially as a young woman.
She describes hating the way she looked on screen, and even says that crowd favourite She’s The Man caused her a lot of distress post-release.
‘”When the movie came out and I saw it,” she says, “I went into a deep depression for 4-6 months because I didn’t like how I looked when I was a boy.” She paused. “I’ve never told anyone that.” Seeing herself with short hair and sideburns was “a super strange and out-of-body experience. It just really put me into a funk.”‘
never forget that the public totally mocked amanda bynes's very real mental health struggles instead of trying to help her but i'm very happy that she's back and doing well and that she discovered channing tatum from a mountain dew commercialhttps://t.co/g7V3AZm1cH pic.twitter.com/jndiDx0BLr
— cheetahgirlsVEVO (@gabebergado) November 26, 2018
Bynes describes the time of her life after ‘retiring’ via Twitter, as a low point in her life. She says she started “hanging out with a seedier crowd and I isolated a lot… I got really into my drug usage and it became a really dark, sad world for me.”
But now she’s been sober for almost four years, she’s studying fashion, and just all round doing well. It’s uplifting and reassuring to know that someone whose life was so tainted by the pressures of fame, has found her footing. Amanda Bynes is a star, and always will be.