Amanda Bynes needs our help.
No, really. It’s easy to write off the “plight” of the rich and famous as they descend into irrelevance after their spotlight fades. Most child stars, or otherwise marginally famous figures, are content to go back to leading normal lives, raising families in suburbia or seeking out work behind the camera as their good looks begin to fade.
But for others, being out of the public eye seems to initiate a self-destruct sequence in their personal and professional lives. We watch them make headlines with their batshit insane behavior, DUI charges and sex tapes. Still worse, these events can signal a sad downward spiral where, after a time off the front page of the gossip magazines, the next news we hear is of their untimely death.
It may sound melodramatic, but these are the deaths we saw coming that grab headlines: Brittany Murphy, Amy Winehouse, Anna Nicole Smith, Whitney Houston – the list goes on and on.
Our celebrity-obsessed culture is partially to blame for catalyzing or hastening these casualties of fame. As these people hit every rung on the ladder while they fall into pits of addiction or mental illness, many are urged onward by a renewed public interest in their problematic behaviors.
This is symptomatic of society’s morbid interest in the decline of the rich and famous: A sense that even millions of dollars, mansions and award shows don’t make celebrities’ battles with addiction or mental breakdowns look much different from those of the average person on the street. We fetishize talented celebrities dying young and elevate them as legends, but they’re really just people like us.
If her recent trouble with the law and erratic Twitter feed are any indication, Amanda Bynes could be the next celebrity casualty – a prediction we really don’t want to be right about after a childhood of watching her wit and personality shine on “The Amanda Show.”
The Nickelodeon prodigy’s descent into mania and the limelight began with a DUI in April of last year. Fast-forward through reports of erratic behavior – including smoking weed at the gym and acting strange outside her New York City apartment – the spotlight has turned to her Twitter, a place that provides an almost too direct and cringe-inducing window into her psyche.
She mostly tweets strange photos of herself and directs media outlets like US Weekly and Complex Magazine to only print the ones she tweets. When news outlets don’t comply, she tweets things at them like, “you’re ugly writers, I don’t want to be in your lame ass magazine thanks!” and threatens to sue.
Just last night, Amanda tweeted probably her millionth revealing bathroom selfie. The duck face she usually molds her expression into was nowhere to be seen, replaced with a most concerning photo of her wearing a bra, tweeting: “About to put on makeup! I weigh 135, I’ve gained weight! I need to be 100 lbs!”
More disheartening tweets like this have come along recently. Perhaps the most notable one thus far pointedly read: “I want Drake to murder my vagina.” Drake never responded, but the Internet did.
Amanda’s fandom has taken to creating elaborate fan art, which includes photoshopped images of her and Drake getting married, her face spliced into religious figures and Teletubbies and the addition of cats sprinkled throughout her self-promoted selfies.
We won’t lie – the retweets are fucking funny. But the whole Twitter situation is representative of what celebrity status has done to Amanda. Society feeds her, and she feeds off of society, fueling her warped self image.
According to her IMDb biography page, she’s previously been quoted as saying, “People should strive to be happy with who they are and not be obsessed with how they look. Beauty is nothing.”
Reading things like this that the current Amanda contradicts is saddening and serves as a reminder of how far anyone – celebrity or not – can fall when she loses touch with reality and herself.
No one is above the frailty of human weakness. Any person, celebrities included, should get the help they need. And we, as Amanda’s Twitter followers and as a society, shouldn’t consume Amanda’s recent missteps as entertainment. #SAVEAMANDA
