Amanda Bynes’ Psychiatric Hold Extended As Parents Seek Conservatorship (UPDATE)

Posted: 07/26/2013 9:49 am EDT  |  Updated: 07/26/2013 4:41 pm EDT

 

A judge has granted Amanda Bynes’ family’s request to have the troubled star’s hospitalization extended for up to two weeks, TMZ reported.

Rick and Lynn Bynes reportedly asked their daughter’s doctors to recommend to the judge that the former Nickelodeon actress remain hospitalized, according to E! News. She has been under evaluation since earlier this week.

A hearing took place Thursday in the psychiatric hospital where Amanda is currently being held, according to TMZ. Doctors allegedly argued that they need 14 more days to properly diagnose the 27-year-old, who could be a danger to herself and others. The actress purportedly hired her own lawyer, who argued that the extension should be denied.

Amanda was placed on 5150 psychiatric hold late Monday after she started a fire in the driveway of a Ventura County home belonging to an elderly woman. The detainment came after months of bizarre and troubling behavior from the former “Easy A” star.

“Deputies investigated the incident and determined that she met the criteria of 5150 W&I (California Welfare & Institutions Code),” Cpt. Don Aguilar told Los Angeles’ KCBS.“She was detained and taken for a mental health evaluation.”

Meanwhile, multiple reports claim Rick and Lynn have filed for conservatorship over their daughter. A hearing has been set for Friday morning, according to People magazine.

TMZ reports the parents must prove that Amanda cannot provide for her own physical health; that she cannot make sound financial judgments; that they can offer her a stable home; and that there are no alternatives other than conservatorship.

Another famous face placed under a 5150 hold was Britney Spears, who was placed on 72-hour lockdown for mental evaluation back in 2008. After the singer’s breakdown, her father, Jamie, was granted conservatorship over his superstar daughter. He has had control over her career, personal life and finances for the past five years.

UPDATE: 2:50 p.m. — A judge has postponed the decision regarding Bynes’ parents’ conservatorship, reports GossipCop. The judge explained that since the actress’s 5150 hold has been extended, “the matter can be revisited at a future hearing, when more information has been gathered.”

Meanwhile, TMZ has obtained the papers Bynes’ parents filed in an attempt to win conservatorship. Expressing their concern, Bynes’ parents describe their daughter as “extremely paranoid about being watched” and add that she has “profound issues with her body image.” The papers also make note about Bynes spending large sums of money in a short amount of time.

 

 

 

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Bynes’ parents ‘deeply concerned’ for actress

 
FILE - In a Tuesday, July 9, 2013 file photo, Amanda Bynes, accompanied by attorney Gerald Shargel, arrives for a court appearance in New York on allegations that she chucked a marijuana bong out the window of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment. Bynes has been hospitalized for a mental health evaluation after deputies said she started a small fire in the driveway of a home in Southern California. Ventura County sheriff's Capt. Don Aguilar says deputies responding to a call Monday night, July 22, 2013 found Bynes standing next to the flames in the city of Thousand Oaks, Calif. The deputies determined she met the criteria for a mental health hold and took her into custody. She can be held for up to 72 hours of observation. (AP Photo/Bethan McKernan, File)
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FILE – In a Tuesday, July 9, 2013 file photo, Amanda Bynes, accompanied by attorney Gerald Shargel, arrives for a court appearance in New York on allegations that she chucked a marijuana bong out the window of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment. Bynes has been hospitalized for a mental health evaluation after deputies said she started a small fire in the driveway of a home in Southern California. Ventura County sheriff’s Capt. Don Aguilar says deputies responding to a call Monday night, July 22, 2013 found Bynes standing next to the flames in the city of Thousand Oaks, Calif. The deputies determined she met the criteria for a mental health hold and took her into custody. She can be held for up to 72 hours of observation. (AP Photo/Bethan McKernan, File)
Associated Press

ANTHONY McCARTNEY 53 minutes ago Arts & EntertainmentAmanda Bynes
 

OXNARD, Calif. (AP) — Amanda Bynes’ parents are deeply concerned that their daughter may hurt herself or others unless they are allowed to assume control over her medical care and finances, court filings show.

The petition Richard and Lynn Bynes filed Friday not only detail her public incidents of disturbing behavior, including several arrests, but also reveal that the former child star has stated fears that she is being watched by smoke detectors and devices in the dashboard of her car.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Glen M. Reiser delayed ruling on the conservatorship petition, stating that there was no rush to act because the actress is under a two-week psychiatric hold at a hospital.

Reiser scheduled a hearing on the issue Aug. 9 and said he also wants to meet one-on-one with Bynes before making a decision.

“We are deeply concerned that Amanda poses a substantial risk to herself, to others, and to property based on recent events in her life,” the filing from Bynes’ parents states. It cites numerous instances of increasingly bizarre behavior by their 27-year-old daughter in the past year.

Bynes was put under the psychiatric hold Monday after authorities said she set a fire on the driveway of a home in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks, where she grew up.

Her parents learned she had returned to California from New York City two days before the incident. Their daughter told them she “cabbed it” but they say they do not know how she actually traveled cross-country or where she has been staying.

“We believe she is essentially homeless,” the filing states.

In May, Bynes was arrested in New York for allegedly throwing a marijuana bong out the window of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment. Police had come to the building to investigate a complaint that she had been smoking marijuana in the lobby.

Last year, Bynes was charged in Los Angeles with driving on a suspended license. The license had been suspended after she was charged with driving under the influence and misdemeanor hit-and-run.

Before moving to New York, Bynes “was extremely paranoid about being ‘watched,'” the filing states. “She would cover smoke alarms with towels, tape windows shut, and cover her car’s dashboard with cardboard and tape out of fear that cameras were watching her from inside these places.”

Bynes, who was 13 when she landed her own hit variety program, “The Amanda Show” on the Nickelodeon cable network, went on to star in the TV series “What I Like About You” and several movies, including “What a Girl Wants,” ”Hairspray” and “She’s the Man.”

She has publicly stated that has retired from acting. Her last film credit was 2010’s “Easy A,” which starred Emma Stone.

Bynes amassed $4 million in savings but has spent $1.2 million in a short amount of time, her parents’ petition states. They state they suspect some of the money has been spent on drugs and plastic surgery, citing bills they have received from doctors and large payments their daughter has made to people they don’t know.

“Amanda has profound issues with her body image and is obsessed with the idea that she (and others) are ‘ugly,'” the petition states, adding that some of the statements have been made about members of her own family.

“She talks incessantly about cosmetic surgeries that she wants to have completed,” the filings state. “We are concerned that the surgeries she wants to have are dangerous and detrimental to her health.”

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP . Associated Press writer John C. Rogers contributed to this report from Los Angeles.