By Andrew Dalton, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Actor Amanda Bynes was released Tuesday from a court conservatorship that put her life and financial decisions in her parents' control for nearly nine years.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge Roger Lund terminated the conservatorship at a hearing in a courtroom in the Southern California city of Oxnard, her attorney David A. Esquibias said.
"The court determines that the conservatorship is no longer required and that grounds for establishment of a conservatorship of the person no longer exist," Lund wrote in court documents outlining the case before he issued his decision.
Bynes, now 35, shot to fame on a pair of Nickelodeon shows as a teenager, but struggles with mental health, substance abuse and the law prompted her parents to establish court control through a conservatorship in 2013.
Lund said this week that Bynes had demonstrated competency to manage her own affairs, including her mental health and other medical treatment.
Bynes' conservatorship played out, and came to an end, far more quietly and less contentiously than that of Britney Spears, who had a long, often bitter and public fight to free herself from a similar arrangement.
Bynes' parents agreed that the conservatorship should end and no one else objected to the court's decision. Her mother, Lynn Bynes, had acted as her conservator since it was established nearly nine years ago.
At the time, her parents told the court they were deeply concerned that their daughter, then 27, might have hurt herself or others unless they were allowed to assume control of her medical care and finances.
They said Bynes had engaged in disturbing behavior, and was convinced she was being watched through smoke detectors and her car's dashboard. Her parents feared she was also planning unnecessary and dangerous cosmetic surgeries.
In the year before the conservatorship was established, Bynes was arrested in New York for throwing a marijuana bong out of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment, and in Los Angeles for driving under the influence, misdemeanor hit-and-run and driving on a suspended license. Her parents said she also set a fire on the driveway of a home in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks, where she grew up.
Bynes was 13 when she landed her own hit variety program, "The Amanda Show" on Nickelodeon and also appeared on the network's sketch series "All That." She went on to star in the TV series "What I Like About You" and in movies, including "What a Girl Wants," "Hairspray" and "She's the Man."
She has not acted since the 2010 Emma Stone film "Easy A" and has publicly said she retired from acting.
Bynes has said in interviews that she has been sober for several years and she is studying at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.
“Scandal” cast will reunite for online script reading for hurricane relief in western North Carolina
The cast of ABC's hit political drama "Scandal" may need to brush up on their snappy, speedy delivery known as "Scandal-pace," because they're reuniting for a good cause. Its stars including Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn and Bellamy Young will take part in a live virtual script reading on Nov. 17 to raise money for hurricane relief in western North Carolina.
Beginning Friday, fans can go online and donate to reserve a spot for the online reading. Proceeds will benefit United Way of North Carolina. Everyone who donates will be able to take part in a virtual pre-event with the cast and Shonda Rhimes will give an introduction.
Additional guest stars will also be announced. The online fundraising platform Prizeo is also holding a contest where one person who donates online via their site will be selected to read a role from the script with the actors. The winner should not worry about the "Scandal"-pace, assured Young over Zoom.
"Whomever the lucky reader is can read at whatever pace they want," she said.
Young, who played Mellie Young, the first lady and later Republican presidential nominee on "Scandal," was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. She came up with the idea for the effort with a friend and took it to her fellow "Scandal" actors, who all jumped on board. Young said this is the first script reading the cast has all done together since the show ended after seven seasons in 2018.
Which episode they will be reading has not been announced yet.
Young said it's "been devastating" to see so many parts of her hometown badly damaged by Hurricane Helene, which ravaged western North Carolina one month ago.
To research the best use for donations, Young spoke with numerous political leaders, including North... Read More