Amanda Bynes is seeing her OnlyFans venture as a ‘career renaissance’ and wants to use it to divulge stories from her time at Nickelodeon, a year on from an explosive documentary which exposed the ‘toxic environment’ at the TV network.
Bynes, 39, announced her foray into the X-rated subscription site on Tuesday, telling fans she was using it merely to communicate with them, and insisted she will not be sharing anything ‘sleazy.’
Now, a source close to the former child star has claimed the move will not only afford her the opportunity to make money, share her fashion designs and provide a potential springboard into reality TV, but will also be a safe space to reveal ‘what happened from her past at Nickelodeon.’
‘Amanda was looking into making money and is convinced that OnlyFans will bring some serious cash her way,’ the insider told DailyMail.com. ‘Her intentions are to do this before she seeks any reality show opportunities.
‘She understands the stigma around OnlyFans, but she is determined to make this very safe – nothing naughty. She wants to share some of her future designs with her fans, collaborate with them and she also wants to tell stories to people who don’t know everything about what happened from her past at Nickelodeon.
‘She wants to make it a spot where fans can go and treat it like a meet and greet.’
Amanda Bynes is seeing her OnlyFans venture as a ‘career renaissance’ and wants to use it to divulge stories from her time at Nickelodeon, an insider has told DailyMail.com
Bynes, 39, announced her foray into the X-rated subscription site on Tuesday, telling fans she was using it to communicate with them, and insisted she will not be sharing anything ‘sleazy’
The insider said she ‘doesn’t care if friends won’t like that she is doing this’ as she is ‘looking to change course on how she has lived her life the last few years.’ They added: ‘She is seeing OnlyFans as a bit of a career renaissance.’
Bynes announced her OnlyFans debut on Instagram, 15 years after quitting the entertainment business.
‘I’m doing onlyfans to chat with my fans through dm’s,’ she wrote alongside a screenshot of her new profile. ‘I won’t be posting any sleazy content. Excited to join.’
She is charging fans more than $50 per month to access her page which currently has mirror selfies.
Bynes has maintained a relatively low profile since quitting Hollywood in 2010.
She pursued fashion and art at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, graduating with an Associate’s of Art degree in 2014.
In December 2024, she hosted a pop-up art show that was attended by celebrities including Miley Cyrus’ younger sister, Noah.
It followed a tumultuous time for the troubled star who suffered a highly publicized breakdown in the early 2010s before being placed under a legal conservatorship by her parents for nine years back in 2013.
A source close to Bynes claimed the move will not only afford her the opportunity to make money but will be a safe space to reveal ‘what happened from her past at Nickelodeon’
The insider said she ‘doesn’t care if friends won’t like that she is doing this’ as she is ‘looking to change course on how she has lived her life the last few years’
Her downward spiral hit the headlines again last year after the release of Discovery documentary Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids, which shone a light on the ‘close’ relationship that producer Dan Schneider had with the teenage star.
Schneider – who helped create some of the network’s most popular shows like All That, Drake & Josh, Henry Danger, Kenan & Kel, Sam & Cat, The Amanda Show, Victorious, Zoey 101, and iCarly – was accused of being overtly inappropriate with Bynes, who is 20 years his junior, as well as with other employees.
In the wake of the documentary a video circulated of a bikini-clad Bynes, who was a child at the time, sitting in a hot tub with a fully clothed Schneider.
The clip was taken from Bynes’ recurring sketch, Amanda’s Jacuzzi, which saw the young star interview guests in the bubbling pool.
Commentators recalled Schneider and Bynes being ‘very close’ – including ‘physically.’
Karyn Finley Thompson, who worked as an editor on several Nickelodeon shows, said: ‘There were many times that I saw Amanda sitting behind him, hugging him or giving him like a neck massage or whatever.
‘Dan and Amanda had a close relationship, and I didn’t think anything different than that. The hot tub scene though I always thought was a little odd.’
Schneider departed from the network in 2018 amid numerous allegations of misconduct.
After finding fame as a Nickelodeon child star and acting in a number of films, Bynes retired from acting in 2010 and was later placed under a legal conservatorship (pictured 2011)
At the time, Nickelodeon said it had performed an internal investigation and found that evidence to back up the allegations was ‘non-existent.’
Schneider, who joined the network in 1993, responded to the allegations made on the documentary in a 19 minute YouTube video in which he admitted that he ‘regretted’ his past actions and that he owed ‘some people a pretty strong apology.’
He said he was ‘embarrassed’ by his behavior in the writer’s room and also apologized for his frequent requests for massages from female members of staff while in the studio.
But he denied he was involved in any sort of sexual abuse either on the set of, or behind the scenes. In May, two months after the documentary was released, he filed a defamation legal case against the producers, branding the show a ‘hit job.’
Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV described Nickelodeon in the early 2000s as an ‘insidious environment rife with allegations of abuse, sexism, racism and inappropriate dynamics with its underage stars and crew.’
Drake Bell came forward to share that he was sexually abused as a teenager by Nickelodeon dialogue coach and convicted sex offender Brian Peck.
