The toll of celebrity mental illness is long and mournful, and seems particularly heavy right now thanks to the deaths of Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson amongst countless others.
Former child star Amanda Bynes joins the ranks of hundreds of celebrities and over 20 million people across the world dealing with a form ‘mental illness,’ drugs and alcohol abuse.
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It’s no wonder mental health is an increasing priority — especially in politics, specifically the revamping of healthcare in the US.
With all this said…it’s unfortunate… that the brunt of the media attention is not targeted to the millions of regular folk — but celebrities instead.
Late last week, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel ordered Bynes, who was recently charged with two counts of hit and run, off the road after reports that she was seen driving around town with a suspended license according to People mag.
Amanda Bynes was spotted in her car in Los Angeles Sept. 11 smoking what appeared to be a pipe. (AKM-GSI Photo)
Revel is the same judge that sentenced bad girl Lindsay Lohan to 90 days in jail in 2010 after she violated her probation from a DUI charge.
According to TMZ, on Thursday night Bynes got behind the wheel of her BMW and drove around West Hollywood smoking what appeared to be pot in a pipe and bumped a parked car.
Bynes has had several driving incidents in the last few months. The most recent occurred on Sept. 9 when the actress was pulled over by Los Angeles police for driving without her lights on, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Amanda joins the ranks with Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson, Emma Thompson, Catherine Zeta Jones, Christopher Kennedy Lawford, Brooke Shields, Carrie Fischer, just to name a few.
In June, she was charged with driving under the influence after an April 6 arrest, in which she was accused of sideswiping a police car while attempting to make a right-hand turn. She allegedly refused to take a Breathalyzer or drug test at the scene of the accident.
After her lawyer pleaded not guilty on her behalf at the June hearing, Bynes took to Twitter to enlist the help of President Obama.
“I don’t drink,” she wrote in a tweet addressed to @BarackObama. “Please fire the cop who arrested me. I also don’t hit and run. The end.”
Her next hearing is set for Sept. 21 to address the new charges.
The end. (blank stare)
