Amanda Bynes sunk into 'deep depression' after She's The Man: 'I didn't like how I looked as a boy'

Bynes spoke about her mental health in her first major interview since 2014
She's The Man: Amanda Bynes starred as Viola who dressed as brother Sebastian
Dreamworks
Natasha Sporn27 November 2018
The Weekender

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US star Amanda Bynes has revealed she sunk into a “deep depression” after filming She’s The Man because she “didn’t like how she looked as a boy”.

The actress described the 2006 film as “a super strange and out-of-body experience” which left her in a “funk” as she suffered from depression for four to six months after playing the part.

In her first major since interview since her public breakdown in 2014, Bynes told Paper magazine: “When the movie came out and I saw it, I went into a deep depression for 4-6 months because I didn't like how I looked when I was a boy.

“I've never told anyone that. It just really put me into a funk.”

Cover star: Amanda Bynes has given her first major interview since 2014
Paper magazine

She’s The Man, which also starred Channing Tatum, saw Bynes play Viola Johnson, a sport-loving girl who dressed up as her twin brother Sebastian to get a place on the football team.

Throughout the film, Viola grappled with keeping her mother’s wish for her to become a debutant at the same time as excelling on the football field as Sebastian.

During the interview, Bynes also spoke candidly about her relationship with drugs and her abuse of Adderall.

Bynes explained: “I started smoking marijuana when I was 16. Even though everyone thought I was the 'good girl,' I did smoke marijuana from that point on.

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

"I didn't get addicted [then] and I wasn't abusing it. And I wasn't going out and partying or making a fool of myself... yet.

“[I tried] cocaine three times but I never got high from cocaine. I never liked it. It was never my drug of choice. [But] I definitely abused Adderall.”

Bynes revealed that she was able to get a prescription for the drug by “seeing a psychiatrist and faking the symptoms of ADD”.

Bynes found fame as a child star on Nickelodeon with The Amanda Show before going on to star in films including Easy A and What A Girl Wants.

The full interview is out now in Paper magazine.

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