UPDATE 2/25 05:22 p.m. ET
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Amanda Bynes’ psychiatrist noted that his patient has “no apparent impairment in alertness and attention, information and processing or ability to modulate mood and affect and suffers no thought disorders.”
The petition details Bynes’ 2020 move to a structured community for women. One year later, the comedian transitioned into “an independent living environment” and has consistently tested negative for “illicit substances in her system.”
Bynes’ filing went on to state that she “desires to live free of any constraint” in the future.
Original story below:
Amanda Bynes has officially filed to end her conservatorship after nearly nine years, Us Weekly can confirm.
The former Nickelodeon star, 35, requested to terminate the conservatorship of both her person and estate on Wednesday, February 23. Bynes also filed a capacity declaration at the Ventura County Superior Court as all conservatorship cases require updated health records about the conservatee’s mental state.
The All That alum was first placed under a temporary conservatorship in August 2013 amid an accumulation of mental health and substance abuse issues. The decision was made one month after she was hospitalized and put on a psychiatric hold for setting a fire in a stranger’s driveway.
In August 2014, Amanda’s mother, Lynn Bynes, was named the conservator of her health care and personal matters. Four years later, paperwork was filed to continue the conservatorship until August 2020.
The Easy A star later took to social media to reflect on how she was adjusting, writing via Instagram in June 2018, “My dearest fans, thank you for all the support throughout the year and every year. I know I’ve been so quiet lately, I just felt that I needed my personal space and that it’d be better for me, but it never was. Just know that you’re my happiness.”
Amanda also got honest about struggling with her mental health throughout the years.
“I just had no purpose in life. I’d been working my whole life and [now] I was doing nothing. I had a lot of time on my hands, and I would ‘wake and bake’ and literally be stoned all day long,” she told Paper Magazine five months later. “[I was] 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.”
The California native has since enrolled and graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. In February 2020, Amanda announced that she was engaged to Paul Michael after they met at an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting.
Ahead of the former actress’ recent court filing, Us confirmed that she was to remain under her conservatorship after a judge reviewed a status report on her health care in September 2021. The legal docs, which were obtained by Us, stated that the judge was satisfied with Amanda’s progress. The next status report on her health is meant to be submitted by her mother in January 2023.
“She’s doing great,” Amanda’s attorney, David Esquibias, exclusively told Us at the time. “Everyone would love to see Amanda not under a conservatorship. I think that is the goal between myself, her mother, her father, and her care providers. Amanda would love to be unconserved. She’s expressed it over and over. The timing is not right at the moment, so she’s working toward that direction. We all are working toward that direction, and one day we all hope to see it.”
Amanda’s attorney did not immediately respond to Us Weekly‘s request for comment.
