Amanda Bynes' Dad Claims Troubled Star Is 'Wonderful' After Shocking Drug Confession
Feb. 25 2019, Updated 8:50 p.m. ET
Amanda Bynes’ shocking hard-core drug use while her life spiraled out of control is in the past, her father insisted in an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com.
The 32-year-old What A Girl Wants actress confessed to Paper Magazine that she started smoking pot at 16, which led her to try a plethora of illegal drugs including ecstasy and cocaine. It was then that her career crashed, and she went off the rails.
Now, her dad, Richard Bynes, tells RadarOnline.com her life has turned around.
“Everything is wonderful,” Richard Bynes told RadarOnline.com about his daughter’s current life.
Bynes said she moved from marijuana on to harder, addictive drugs.
"Later on it progressed to doing molly and ecstasy," Bynes told the mag. "I tried cocaine three times but I never got high from cocaine. I never liked it. It was never my drug of choice."
Bynes’ downfall was well documented by the Nickelodeon child star on social media, with eerie similarities to Britney Spears’ meltdown.
But four years after she entered rehab where she had been treated for schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, she was back on track taking classes at the Los Angeles Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Her father hinted to RadarOnline.com that he was pleased with her progress.
Meanwhile, Amanda's mother, Lynn Bynes, was recently granted a two-year extension on her conservatorship.
The former child star said in the magazine interview that she was in a dark place even as her acting career was soaring.
"I literally couldn't stand my appearance in that movie and I didn't like my performance. I was absolutely convinced I needed to stop acting after seeing it,” Bynes said about her role in Easy A with Emma Stone.
"I was high on marijuana when I saw that but for some reason it really started to affect me. I don't know if it was a drug-induced psychosis or what, but it affected my brain in a different way than it affects other people. It absolutely changed my perception of things."
She quit acting via Twitter – a move she said catapulted her misery.
"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 continued.
The Hairspray actress said she leaned on her family for help in the past few years.
"I've been sober for almost four years now," she said and credited her parents for "really helping me get back on track."
What do you think about Amanda Bynes’ return to the spotlight? Sound off in comments below.
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