Amanda Bynes Spotted For First Time Since Checking Into Rehab, How She’s Allegedly Doing

amanda bynes in what a girl wants
(Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

She’s the Man star Amanda Bynes seems to be making some much needed progress in her mental health journey, after having to make a scary call to authorities when she was found wandering the streets naked near the end of March, which resulted in her being put under a 5150 psychiatric hold. It was about a month ago that the actress checked herself back into an inpatient facility, now she’s actually been spotted out by herself for the first time since returning to inpatient care, and we know how she’s allegedly doing.

According to TMZ, Bynes was seen out and about, and reportedly in good spirits, in Orange County, California over the weekend, with sources telling the outlet that she was at a smoke shop on Friday evening, and spent part of her Saturday afternoon shopping at the grocery store, Ralph’s, where she checked out with a full bag. Bynes is now doing well enough in her treatment to have been upgraded to the facility’s group which only needs a bit of supervision, meaning that she’s now allowed to leave the center on her own at certain times of the day, so she can shop or simply get some fresh air and exercise.

This is certainly good news, as the reports on her health recently have been troubling, to say the least. Bynes had, apparently, been living on the streets for several days prior to the incident in March, which saw the What a Girl Wants talent walking naked in downtown Los Angeles, eventually getting a driver’s attention to tell them she was coming off of a psychotic episode and making her own 911 call to ask for assistance. It appears possible that this episode might be what led her to miss her planned reunion with her All That co-stars at ‘90s Con, prompting Kel Mitchell to send a sweet message her way.

Once she was no longer under that initial 5150, she continued treatment at an outpatient program, but was living in isolation and without family or friends to help her out when needed. In early July, about a week after checking out of the outpatient center, she checked into her current inpatient facility, hoping to have more support around her on a daily basis as she continues to make her mental health a priority.

Luckily, that appears to be what she’s gotten with the center she now resides in. Word is that Bynes is very happy with the facility, because she has a host of other patients, therapists, and doctors around at all times, and has opportunities to socialize, or at least see other people on a regular basis. It was reported back in April that she hasn’t been seeing her parents, and it was just a few days after her 5150 hold began that her ex-fiancé, Paul Michael, confirmed they hadn’t seen each other or lived together since January.

After her conservatorship ended in the spring of 2022, Bynes revealed that she was simply continuing her studies at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, where she was pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree. Hopefully, she’ll continue to get better and be able to return to her life as a free woman, sooner rather than later.

Adrienne Jones
Senior Content Creator

Covering The Witcher, Outlander, Virgin River, Sweet Magnolias and a slew of other streaming shows, Adrienne Jones is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend, and started in the fall of 2015. In addition to writing and editing stories on a variety of different topics, she also spends her work days trying to find new ways to write about the many romantic entanglements that fictional characters find themselves in on TV shows. She graduated from Mizzou with a degree in Photojournalism.