Why Amanda Bynes Was Banned From Barneys New York
Plenty of celebrities have had ups and downs throughout their time in the spotlight. Whether it’s struggles with drugs, alcohol, mental health, or just the stress of being in the limelight, we can always expect a celeb breakdown now and then. For actress Amanda Bynes, it’s been a mixture of all the above. Bynes didn’t start out with the most traditional upbringing and the past decade has been especially challenging for her. And in 2014, she hit a low point when she was banned from shopping at Barneys New York for — like so many celebrities before her — shoplifting.
Amanda Bynes hasn’t acted since 2010
The 33-year-old retired actress started out the way that any kid wishes they could start out: on Nickelodeon. She landed a role on the tween sketch comedy show All That in 1996 at age 10, according to IMDb. After that, she got her own live variety show on Nickelodeon, The Amanda Show, where she shone as the show’s namesake and top performer. In her post-Nickelodeon teen years, Bynes co-starred on the WB sitcom What I Like About You.
Her film career took off when she starred in the comedy She’s the Man alongside Channing Tatum. Bynes followed that up with the film adaptation of the musical Hairspray, which was her biggest critical and commercial success. Her last role was the film Easy A in 2010, in which she starred alongside Emma Stone, and she announced an indefinite hiatus from acting shortly after.
A controversial life led to shoplifting from Barneys New York
Four years after announcing her retirement on Twitter, Bynes found herself in trouble everywhere she went. In 2014, Bynes was shopping at department store Barneys New York when she shoplifted a hat. Bynes told PEOPLE shortly after the event that she didn’t purposely take the hat. “I had been harassed by a man — a man and this woman were basically trying to take my picture inside the store, and so I asked them to stop taking it, but they wouldn’t.”
Bynes said that she had tried the hat on, then simply forgot it was on her head when she went out to her car to avoid the people harassing her in the store. She stated that she had planned on buying the hat and was simply grabbing her purse to continue shopping at the store when she was instead told to leave — and never come back. “I basically just had to leave,” Bynes stated. “They said, ‘Please, just don’t shop at Barneys anymore.’
The trouble didn’t stop there for Amanda Bynes
While that encounter thankfully didn’t end up in legal trouble, Bynes has had her fair share of controversies since. Before 2014, she had already spent time hospitalized for a mental health evaluation and had previously been charged with a DUI. She went on numerous tirades on Twitter, attacking her friends and family with things that she has since said were lies.
Bynes talked to Paper magazine in 2018 about abusing drugs like marijuana and Adderall. The timing checks out that Bynes was likely at the height of her substance abuse when the Barneys incident happened. At the time of her Paper interview, Bynes said that she was four years sober and was working on earning a bachelor’s degree in fashion. Things seemed to be on the upswing for Bynes. However, her mother was granted a conservatorship through August 2020 after Bynes spent more time in a sober living facility. She has since had a strange presence on social media, showing off bright pink hair and face tattoos.
