Entertainment

Amanda Bynes Is Officially A College Graduate & Shared The Major Moment On Twitter

by Allyson Koerner
Jason Merritt/TERM/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Congratulations are in order for this former Nickelodeon star. Amanda Bynes graduated from fashion school at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. This is truly great news for the She's the Man star, who has unfortunately faced many struggles over the past few years. It's wonderful to see she's doing well and following her dreams.

On Monday, Bynes tweeted a photo in her cap and gown and captioned it, "FIDM graduate 2019 #fidmgraduation." Her image also features an unknown friend, but they're both totally rocking their graduation day outfits. This is also the first time the 33-year-old has tweeted since sharing her interview with Paper magazine on Nov. 26, 2018.

As Paper magazine's November 2018 cover star, Bynes opened up about her schooling. She enrolled in FIDM in early 2014. She first earned her Associate's of Arts degree in merchandise product development in fall 2018 and then started classes for her Bachelor's degree in January. The What a Girl Wants actor has definitely worked hard when it comes to her education. Despite everything she's endured personally, Bynes fought through the difficult times to get to a positive point in her life.

Bynes announced her retirement from acting in 2010 at the age of 24. Easy A was her last film. At the time, Us Weekly reported that she tweeted in since-deleted posts, "Being an actress isn't as fun as it may seem. If I don't love something anymore, I stop doing it. I don't love acting anymore, so I've stopped doing it." She continued, "I know 24 is a young age to retire but you heard it here first I've #retired."

Following her retirement, Bynes encountered many personal battles, including her struggle with substance abuse and mental health. In 2018, she explained her early retirement to Paper magazine. She said,

"I just had no purpose in life. I'd been working my whole life and [now] I was doing nothing. I had a lot of time on my hands and I would 'wake and bake' and literally be stoned all day long."

She later added, "I got really into my drug usage and it became a really dark, sad world for me."

At the time of her interview with Paper magazine, Bynes was four years sober. She also expressed how far she's moved on from her dark past. Bynes said,

"Those days of experimenting [with substances] are long over. I'm not sad about it and I don't miss it because I really feel ashamed of how those substances made me act. When I was off of them, I was completely back to normal and immediately realized what I had done — it was like an alien had literally invaded my body."

Now, Bynes appears to be doing better than ever. She previously told Paper magazine that she wants to get back into acting and create her own fashion line one day. There's no denying she's a fighter who can do anything she puts her mind to. It seems like great things are ahead for Bynes.