A Look Into Drake Bell And Amanda Bynes' Relationship

In the '90s, Nickelodeon won over kids and families with a mix of original cartoons like "Rugrats" and live-action programming like "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" One of its most successful series was a youthful answer to "Saturday Night Live" — "All That." The variety sketch comedy show, featuring young stars like Amanda Bynes, Kenan Thompson, and Nick Cannon, was so successful that it led to the 1999 spinoff, "The Amanda Show," starring Bynes and Drake Bell. These two actors had an impressive comedic relationship on-screen in sketches like "Judge Trudy," mocking the long-running and incredibly wealthy Judge Judy. By the time Bynes' show ended, Bell had appeared in more episodes than the titular actor. 

Decades later, these two childhood stars found themselves both in precarious situations. Bynes was spotted in Los Angeles, wandering the streets naked in what she described as a psychotic episode. As a result, she was hospitalized and put under psychiatric hold. Weeks later, the Daytona Beach Police Department reported her co-star Bell was "considered missing and endangered." Fortunately, Bell resurfaced safely. The actor joked about the ordeal on Twitter, saying, "You leave your phone in the car and don't answer for the night and this?"

"The Amanda Show" ended after three seasons, but Bynes and Bell stayed connected as they navigated Hollywood while also navigating scandals. Here's a look into the on- and off-screen relationship of Bell and Bynes.

Producers offered Amanda Bynes her own Nickelodeon show after three years on "All That," a show that "was a dream come true ... unbelievable for me," she told Paper. Yet, after a promising start to a career in film with "She's the Man" and "Hairspray" for example, Bynes began behaving strangely. She later confessed this was all from using drugs. Still, she and her old sidekick Drake Bell stayed in touch long after "The Amanda Show" ended in the early aughts. 

"Amanda and I are close," Bell told OK! "We worked together for years. I talk to her every day. She's a sweetheart. I had lunch with her yesterday, and she's brilliant. She's good, and she's healthy," Bell added. While the actor admitted that some of her behavior may seem erratic, he didn't have any cause for concern for her mental health. In fact, he continued to suggest the two meet up whenever he was in town. "She's the same beautiful, funny, artistic, thoughtful person that she's always been," Bell explained.

As Bynes continued to make news after her retirement from acting, she could at least count on Bell to support her. Following the end of her 9-year conservatorship in 2022, Bell said the two still talked. "I reached out to her a while ago. I hope she's doing OK," Bell told TMZ. He wished Bynes well, especially because "she's been a good friend for years."

Fan theories seemed to be explicitly confirmed in 2013 when Amanda Bynes appeared to admit she and Drake Bell used to be intimate behind the scenes of "The Amanda Show." She tweeted, "I f***ed @drakebell so many times on the Amanda show set oh god," according to Global Grind. Bynes claimed the post came from a fake Twitter account. She then posted on her own Twitter to clarify: "I didn't tweet this, that's what happened when I called @Drake ugly, I didn't write that," according to E! News.

Even though Bynes rebuked the tweet, it was in line with another explicit tweet she shared only a few months earlier about a different Drake, the rap star. "I want @drake to murder my vagina," Bynes wrote on Twitter. Later, Bynes admitted about her Drake tweet, "I was serious but I was also on drugs," she told "The Breakfast Club." Bynes also posted a string of questionable messages on Twitter, like calling singer Courtney Love an ugly woman. She even began criticizing her own family. At the time, her former Bell was also worried about her messages posted online and appeared to be concerned about her well-being. In a since-deleted tweet, via E! News, Bell wrote, "@amandabynes what's going on girl?!" Looking back, "everything I worked my whole life to achieve, I kind of ruined it all through Twitter," Bynes told Paper. "I'm really ashamed and embarrassed with the things I said," she added.