The driveway where Amanda Bynes started a fire

This is the driveway where Amanda Bynes started a fire.

It is located at 239 East Avenida De Los Arboles in Thousand Oaks, California.

Bynes is best known for starring in The Amanda Show, which was a comedy sketch series that aired on Nickelodeon between 1999 and 2002. She has also appeared in films such as Big Fat Liar (2002), What a Girl Wants (2003), She's the Man (2006), and Hairspray (2007).

During the 2000s, it seemed as though the young actress was destined for a lengthy career in Hollywood.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, as Bynes began exhibiting erratic behavior due to substance abuse and undiagnosed bipolar disorder.

In June 2010, she unexpectedly announced that she was going on an indefinite hiatus because she "didn't love acting anymore."

In 2012, she was pulled over in West Hollywood while driving under the influence. Then, a few months later, prosecutors charged her with two separate hit-and-runs.

Her legal woes worsened in 2013 after she was arrested for smoking marijuana in the lobby of her apartment building and throwing a bong out of a window.

During this period, she also began to post bizarre tweets and pick fights with other celebrities on social media.

The former child star was forced to leave New York and move back to her hometown of Thousand Oaks due to financial difficulties.

On the night of July 22nd, 2013, Bynes walked up to this property wearing a blonde wig and holding a plastic can of gasoline.

Inexplicably, she proceeded to light a fire in the driveway.

The house was owned by a woman named Bonnie Braaten, whom Bynes had never met before. Braaten missed the entire incident, as she was watching television in a room at the back.

One of Braaten's neighbors recalled how he walked out of his garage and saw the actress sitting on the pavement while a group of teenagers gathered around the fire and attempted to put it out.

At that point, the neighbor grabbed an extinguisher from his garage and dealt with the blaze.

During the incident, Bynes became frantic and started shouting about how her pet dog had been burned. She also tried to leave the scene in a taxi cab.

When the police arrived, they quickly realized that Bynes was experiencing a mental health episode, as the 27-year-old was unable to explain why she had started the fire. Consequently, she was placed under a 5150 mental evaluation hold, which allows adults to be involuntarily detained in psychiatric care for up to 72 hours.

Following a psychiatric assessment, a judge agreed to extend the hold after doctors successfully argued that they needed more time to diagnose her illness.

A few weeks later, Bynes' mother, Lynn, was granted temporary conservatorship over her affairs.

Since the incident, the former Nickelodeon star has continued to struggle with mental illness. In March 2023, she was placed under another 5150 mental evaluation hold after she suffered a psychotic episode and began walking naked along the streets of Los Angeles.

Photos

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