Amanda Bynes files to end conservatorship after 9 years: ‘Her condition is improved’
Former actress Amanda Bynes has filed to end her conservatorship after almost nine years, news outlets reported.
The 35-year-old actress was beloved on teenage TV shows and movies during the 2000s, and has largely stayed out of the entertainment industry since before her conservatorship began in 2013.
“Amanda wishes to terminate her conservatorship. She believes her condition is improved and protection of the court is no longer necessary,” her lawyer David A. Esquibias confirmed to People.
Bynes, who helped lead several shows on Nickelodeon as a child, petitioned to end her conservatorship for herself and estate in the Ventura County Superior Court in California, Page Six reported. A hearing is scheduled for March 22.
The “Easy A” actress has been in a conservatorship led by her parents, Lynn and Rick Bynes, after substance abuse, mental health and legal troubles.
NBC News confirmed her parents are behind her petition.
“The parents are happy, thrilled to get this good news,” Tamar Arminak, the parents’ lawyer, told NBCNews. “The professionals say she is ready to make her own life choices and decisions and are so proud of her. They 100 percent support her decision to end the conservatorship.”
Ahead of her birthday in 2021, the child star’s lawyer told People she was doing great.
“She lives by the beach, attends school and is enjoying meditation and Soul Cycle classes,” he said.
In 2020, after receiving treatment at a mental health facility, Bynes told her followers she was going back to fashion school to get her bachelor’s degree. She graduated with her associates degree in 2019.
“Worked on coping skills to help with my social anxiety that caused me to drop out of school months ago,” she shared at the time on Instagram. “Back on track and doing well! I’m now living in transitional living and doing therapy during the week.”
Conservatorships have been well-discussed recently due to Britney Spears’ fight to end hers, which proved to be successful in November 2021.
A conservatorship is an arrangement in which a judge appoints a person or organization to care for an adult who is deemed unable to care for themselves or their finances. They are typically enacted when a person “with a significant amount of wealth” undergoes a change in their mental capacity or ability to make decisions, the Post reports.
McClatchy News previously reported that the “Free Britney Act,” which would protect people in conservatorships, has been introduced into Congress through a bipartisan bill. The bill would aim to protect those under conservatorships from “abuse and exploitation.”
