14 DAY TRIAL // Rumor has it that Amanda Bynes is on the verge of another serious meltdown: she’s been spotted all over New York acting erratically, she’s been busted shoplifting twice, and she’s doing and saying the most nonsensical things ever.
Now is not the time to make fun of her, Nick Cannon says in a new interview with The Huffington Post Live.
If you’re wondering what these two have in common for Nick to step forward in Amanda’s defense like that, wonder no more: they’re friends and their relationship goes back a long way. Nick spoke out in Amanda’s defense for the first time a couple of years ago, when she was generating exactly the same kind of media attention.
She needs help
Cannon says Amanda is “like family” to him and that he’s very worried about her because she’s obviously dealing with some serious issues. However, unlike most people who have bad things to work through, no matter their nature, Amanda has to do it in the public eye, with millions of people watching and commenting on her every move.
No one deserves that, he says.
“It's a process. It's a condition... People started to make fun of her and people started to think it was entertaining to make jokes... My heart goes out to her – I pray for her daily,” Nick says.
“If this was a person who was in a mental hospital, would you [make fun of her]? But just because she's someone that is a public figure, we feel like it's fun. But no, this is someone who needs help, and rightly so, she was getting help. And I'm pretty sure she'll continue to get help again. It's things you have to deal with your entire life,” he continues.
Isn’t Nick being just a tad bit hypocritical?
Nick Cannon is pleading with the media and the public to respect Amanda’s privacy. Ironically, the mere fact that he’s talking about her will only increase the attention paid to her, which, in turn, will translate into more paparazzi following her and more people taking out their phones to take her picture whenever they see her walking past them in the street.
Perhaps even worse, Nick is saying these things as he’s promoting his gig on America’s Got Talent so, what feels like a very chivalrous comment is actually a plug for himself. Because it’s guaranteed to land HIM in the headlines, while making Amanda’s situation even worse.
He’s probably honest when he says that she’s like family to him and that he feels for her, but the way he goes about it is all wrong. What Amanda doesn’t need right now is even more people selling her out to the press. She needs people who are actually there for her, offering her the help she needs – not people who go on TV talking about the help she might receive further down the line, preferably before it’s too late.
Amanda Bynes has been tweeting non-stop that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with her. Having Nick out there saying she has an obvious mental problem won’t be of any help to her.
I am not insane and they lied about me in every way
— amanda bynes (@amandabynes) October 9, 2014