Nick Cannon Writes Open Letter To Amanda Bynes

Amanda Bynes Image by Getty Images

By Anne Cohen August 1, 2013

The last time Nick Cannon and Amanda Bynes hung out, they were fresh-faced and rosy-cheeked Nickelodeon darlings. Since then, Cannon has said “I do” to Mariah Carey, while Amanda…well, has very publicly self-destructed.

But it seems that Cannon stands by his friends, no matter how many people they call “ugly.”

In a post on his personal website on Wednesday, the television host wrote an open letter to Bynes, expressing his concern over her behavior and that he was behind her 100%.

Here’s an excerpt:

“I ask people who are quick to judge, tweet, report, or comment to ask yourself; what if that person was my sister? My brother? My Mother? Or me? What then would I say? In the words of the great poet and artist Bill Withers, “Sometimes in our lives We all have pain, we all have sorrow”. We all end up alone in that dark hole at some point in our lives and if you don’t have a foundation of friends and family to help bring you up and out it makes that journey long and detrimental. So I say to my sister Amanda Bynes you’re not alone. I’m here for you. I understand. I care and I appreciate you, because that’s what family does and that’s what family is for. I also extend this to anyone else in my life, past or present that may find themselves in hard times. I’m here! Call me! Because I truly believe, the hand you’re helping up today may be the one you’re reaching for tomorrow. So not to be all cheesy and over sentimental but I got to end this with the ingenious Wither’s lyrics “Lean on me when you’re not strong and I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on. For it won’t be long until I’ll need somebody to lean on.”

Cannon isn’t the first former child-star to speak out about Bynes’ behavior. Mara Wilson (aka Matilda) said that “having to live up to your fan base is a little like having to deal with a million strict parents who don’t actually love you. They reward you for your cuteness and cleverness, but are quick to judge and punish. And they do not want you ever to grow up. How do you react? The way any sullen teenager does: You get resentful, and as soon as you have the freedom, you act out.” For more wise words about early fame , read her essay on Cracked called “7 Reasons Child Stars Go Crazy (An Insider’s Perspective).”

Amanda Bynes is currently under an involuntary psychiatric hold in California, after she was arrested on July 22 for starting a fire in an elderly woman’s driveway in Thousand Oaks.

Click here for Nick Cannon’s full letter to his friend.

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO