Here’s the terrible reason why Amanda Bynes, a former child star, departed Hollywood after her final film at the age of 24.

Anyone who grew up in the late 1990s and early 2000s would recognize Bynes as the star of several popular Nickelodeon children’s television series. The actor began her career at the age of seven and was subsequently discovered by the children’s network, where she appeared in shows such as All That, Figure It Out, and Blue’s Clues.

After anchoring her own spin-off series, The Amanda Show, from 1999 to 2002, Bynes moved into movies, starring in the blockbuster adolescent comedies What a Girl Wants, She’s the Man, and Hairspray.

Despite her career’s success, Bynes retired from acting in 2010, and the now-39-year-old later struggled with different mental health and legal concerns.

Her final performance came at the age of 24, when she played opposite Emma Stone in Easy A, a high school reimagining of the 1850 book The Scarlet Letter.

Bynes played Marianne Bryant, the religious and prudish antithesis of Stone’s Olive Penderghast, and the picture was a commercial triumph for both actresses.

But, while Stone went on to win an Oscar, Bynes dropped out of her next film, Hall Pass, and eventually announced an indefinite break.

For the next eight years, the choice remained a mystery until Bynes confessed in an interview with Paper Magazine that body-image difficulties had impacted her decision to leave acting.

“I literally couldn’t stand my appearance in that movie, and I didn’t like my performance,” Bynes added about Easy A.

“I was convinced I needed to stop acting after seeing it.”

Explaining that she was high on marijuana at the premiere, which she feels may have influenced her judgment, Bynes went on to say, “I saw it, and I was convinced that I should never appear on camera again.”

This wasn’t the only time Bynes battled with her image in a film, as she admitted that seeing herself dressed as a guy in She’s the Man sent her into a “deep depression for 4-6 months.”

The former performer also stated that her abrupt choice to depart from the profession marked the beginning of her downward spiral into substance misuse.

Bynes was charged with driving under the influence (DUI) in 2012 and then reckless endangerment in 2013. Her parents would guard her from 2013 until 2022.

The former child star would then make a brief journey into podcasting before announcing her occupation as a nail technician.