Amanda Bynes’ Boyfriend Reportedly Has People Noticing A Shift

Amanda Bynes was once the face of Nickelodeon and a staple of early 2000s teen comedies, but after years of highly public struggles, it looks like the former child star may be entering a quieter, more hopeful chapter. The “What A Girl Wants” actress appears to be “turning a corner,” with insiders claiming the shift comes down to a mix of lifestyle changes and a new relationship. Between her reported Ozempic-assisted weight loss journey and a new man in her life, sources say that Amanda Bynes’s loved ones are hopeful she may be returning to her old self.

Much of that optimism, they say, is connected to her new boyfriend, 40-year-old business owner Zachary Khan, who has been described as “level-headed” and a calming presence. Sources also told Daily Mail he has given Bynes “some stability,” coming about two years after her whirlwind engagement to ex-fiancé Paul Michael.

And while the relationship isn’t being framed as a fast-track romance, one insider stressed that it’s very much ongoing. “It’s still going,” the source told the outlet. “It’s not serious serious, like they’re not going to get married right away, but he’s really supportive of her, really good to her.”

The apparent stability is being described as a welcome change for Bynes, whose personal life has been heavily scrutinized over the years. In 2013, she was placed under a conservatorship by her parents, Rick and Lynn Bynes, following a period marked by erratic behavior, legal problems, and substance abuse. The conservatorship lasted nine years.

Bynes’s rise to fame began early. She landed her big break at just 10 years old in 1999 on Nickelodeon’s sketch series “All That.” Her success quickly expanded into her own spinoff, “The Amanda Show,” which ran from 1999 to 2002.

Her past ties to Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider, who departed the network in 2018 amid allegations that included fostering an abusive and toxic workplace environment, gender discrimination, and the sexualization of child actors. “I wish I could go back, especially to those earlier years of my career, and bring the growth and the experience that I have now and just do a better job and never, ever feel like it was okay to be an as-hole to anyone, ever,” Schneider said following the verbal abuse and toxic workplace enviornment allegations brought to light in the docuseries “Quiet On Set.”

Schneider also addressed criticism over adult-leaning jokes that viewers say crossed the line for kids’ programming, arguing that if something upsets audiences, it shouldn’t stay in the final cut. “Let’s cut those jokes out of the show, just like I would have done 20 years ago or 25 years ago,” Schneider said in the interview.

One of the jokes he was referring to revolved around Penelope Taint, a character portrayed by a young Amanda Bynes on “The Amanda Show.” For those who do not know, “taint” is a vulgar slang referring to “the area between the an-s and the posterior part of the external genitalia.” According to insiders, Schneider allegedly told writers to keep quiet about it.

“I want my shows to be popular. I want everyone to like [the shows], the more people who liked the shows, the happier I am,” Schneider added. “So if there’s anything that needs to be cut because it’s upsetting somebody, let’s cut it.”

As Amanda Bynes’ struggles intensified, she underwent a dramatic physical transformation, including platinum blonde hair, a heart tattoo on her cheek, lip fillers, and a blepharoplasty surgery to lift her eyelids. Her changing appearance played out alongside increasingly erratic social media behavior, which included bizarre posts and the infamous moment when she asked Drake to “murder” her v-gina.

Her legal issues also mounted. Bynes had two DUI arrests, one in 2012 and another in 2014. She was sentenced to three years of probation for her first DUI, while the Los Angeles City Attorney decided not to prosecute her for the second arrest.

In 2014, Bynes publicly shared that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

In March 2022, a California judge granted Bynes’s petition to end her conservatorship, but her mental health challenges reportedly continued. One year later, she was placed on a psychiatric hold after being found “roaming the streets naked and alone,” TMZ reported at the time. She was later released from a mental health facility following a three-week stay.

Now, with a reported new support system and a relationship described as steady and supportive, the narrative around Bynes appears to be shifting, at least for the people closest to her.