Amanda Bynes Twitter: Is Actress Insane Or Just a Little Unwell?

Culture

The paparazzi-tracked meltdown of Amanda Bynes is continuing, with the 27-year-old "retired multi-millionaire" generating headlines simply by existing. She was photographed trampolining alone, denied that she was walking in Buffalo even as TMZ filmed her there, and neighbors in her apartment building have claimed that living with her is like "living with Linda Blair in The Exorcist."

There's also the arrest for allegedly throwing a bong out of her window, after which  she claimed that NYPD police "slapped [her] vagina," and wore possibly the most ill-fitting wig in existence to court. Then there are the celebrities she takes aim at on Twitter.

"No one wants to suck your d**k! Stop living! Kill yourself!" she tweeted to Perez Hilton. "Sorry you're an ugly ex boy band member w/no talent or career," she told Lance Bass after he voiced concern about her mental problems.

It's easy to understand Bynes' frustration with the deluge of paparazzi and celebrity "well-wishers" invoking her name in the media, but there are shades of Britney Spears circa 2006 here. While she claims that she doesn't drink or do drugs, E! Online has provided a handy timeline of Amanda's numerous run-ins with the law, many of which involve very unsafe driving. Others have claimed to have seen her smoking pot in her car and dancing alone at a club where she looked "zoned out of her mind."

What is obvious here is that Amanda Bynes is going off the rails in some way. Some speculate about her mental state, or whether or not she is using drugs, but we can see that she has no real support system in place. She may tweet constantly about how she is "not crazy" but her very  public displays of strange behavior show that something is wrong.

Coming out of the fishbowl-like setting of Disney is difficult for most child stars. For every Justin Timberlake growing up into success, there are about a dozen Lohans.

Mara Wilson, who starred in Matilda as a child but left acting to attend university, this week wrote an enlightening piece on Cracked.com called "7 Reasons Why Child Stars Go Crazy."

"Having to live up to your fan base is a little like having to deal with a million strict parents who don't actually love you. They reward you for your cuteness and cleverness, but are quick to judge and punish," she explained.

Fred Savage also weighed in today in a defense of child stars. "For every one that spins out of control, there’s 10 that haven’t," he told the Business podcast.

Amanda Bynes would have been able to count herself amongst those 10 until recently — her last film appearance was in 2010's Easy A and up until her arrest for a DUI last September, she had been keeping a low profile.

Crazy Days and Nights last year revealed a blind item claiming that Kid Cudi, who once dated Bynes, got her hooked on drugs to "keep her under his thumb." A few weeks ago she slammed Cudi on Twitter, showing that no love is lost between the former lovers.

Whatever has happened to Amanda Bynes in the last few years is unclear, but right now, a Tweet posted by Rihanna in what was a slanging match between her and Bynes is strangely apropos: "Ya see what happens when they cancel Intervention?"

Wise words.