Amanda Bynes was spotted making a public appearance this weekend, marking her first public sighting since entering an inpatient treatment facility in July.
The 37-year-old former actress was pictured in Orange County, California, after taking a trip to a Ralph’s supermarket for some groceries on Saturday. Reportedly, she had also been seen in public the previous day.
Sources told TMZ Wednesday that Bynes graduated from her original status at the mental health facility, which prevented her from taking field trips.
Now she has been added to the facility’s minimum supervision group, which means she can leave the premises on her own at certain times of the day.
Bynes had previously participated in an outpatient treatment program, but she left that program late last month and entered her current, more intensive inpatient program.
In town: Amanda Bynes was spotted this weekend after making a short unsupervised trip to her inpatient mental health treatment center in Orange County, California, marking her first sighting since she turned herself in late last month
That’s what sources said at the time TMZ that Bynes wanted to avoid the loneliness she felt living alone in an apartment, and she also wanted a more dedicated team of mental health professionals that her current program offers.
Amanda was dressed casually for her weekend away in a white shirt with a thin gray zip-up hoodie and a black windbreaker.
She paired the tops with slim dark blue jeans and her dyed black hair was pulled back into a bun.
The outlet’s sources noted that Bynes was making significant improvements — enough to go out on her own without supervision — but she still wants to stay there and doesn’t yet have a plan for when she’ll end treatment.
In the meantime, she will continue to meet with mental health professionals to aid her recovery.
The sources added that the She’s The Man star is comfortable with her current living situation, and reportedly appreciates having therapists and medical professionals close at hand, as well as having other patients around to deal with, something she apparently didn’t get much of. before entering treatment.
According to people who saw her on her drive through town, Bynes stopped by a smoke shop around 6:30 p.m. Friday, though it’s unclear what she may have bought.
She was seen again on Saturday making her way to a Ralph’s near the facility. The All That star was seen in photos leaving the store with a full paper bag of groceries.
Stocking up: Bynes was spotted visiting a smoke shop in the OC around 6:30 p.m. on Friday, then photographed (pictured) on Saturday buying a bag of groceries at Ralph’s
Improvement: Bynes graduated to be able to leave the inpatient facility unsupervised at specific times. She reported last month after feeling that her outpatient clinic was not up to par
In Crisis: In March, Bynes was placed in a mental institution after she was found walking the streets of Downtown LA naked; seen in 2013
Amanda has recently left her loved ones worried after seemingly failing to regain a more stable mental state in the wake of past issues that prompted her to check in and out of mental health facilities.
In June, she was placed in psychiatric facility 5150, just two months after being released from a three-week stay at a mental health facility, after being found naked walking the streets of downtown Los Angeles in March.
A mental health evaluation had deemed her “a danger to herself and others,” members of the Los Angeles Police Department said TMZ at the time.
In a surprising twist, they added that it was Bynes himself who initially called the police to report that a woman was allegedly in distress.
Her psychiatric hospitalization was then extended for at least a week while doctors worked to stabilize her medication.
After being caught by police for wandering the streets naked, Bynes’ former fiancée Paul Michael claimed that Page six that before the mental health crisis she had not taken the prescribed medications.
Prior to March 2022, Amanda was under guardianship, and it was her mother Lynn who made sure she took her medication as prescribed before it ended.
Michael then claimed that he and his ex split shortly before her hospitalization in March.
However, Bynes’ parents had banned Michael from contacting or visiting their daughter while she was in the hospital, sources exclusively told DailyMail.com.
Contributing factors? Her former fiancé Paul Michael (L) claimed they broke up before her breakdown, and he also said she hadn’t taken her prescription meds beforehand
Ongoing issues: During her arrest in March, a source said her parents didn’t want to reinstate her conservatorship because they thought it was an isolated event, but she still had mental health issues; seen in 2015 in LA
“They don’t want her ex-fiancée around, and he’s been ordered not to have any contact with her,” an insider explained.
“He doesn’t seem to have her best interests at heart, and her family has nothing good to say about him.”
Despite her ongoing mental health issues, the insider said Bynes’s parents were not considering reinstating her conservatorship at the time, thinking her hospitalization was an isolated event.
In the following months, however, she still requires extensive psychiatric care.