Former child star Amanda Bynes files to end conservatorship of 9 years

The actor has made a bid for freedom with her lawyer saying she no longer needs the protection of the court

Amanda Bynes arrives for a court hearing in 2013, the year her temporary conservatorship began. The former child star is now petitioning for the order to be reversed. Reuters

Following Britney Spears's successful termination of her 13-year conservatorship in November, another Hollywood star is making a bid for freedom.

Actor and former child star Amanda Bynes has filed a petition to terminate her nine-year conservatorship.

“Amanda wishes to terminate her conservatorship,” Bynes's lawyer David A Esquibias told People magazine.

Bynes, now 35, was placed under a temporary conservatorship in California in August 2013.

Amanda Bynes in New York. Photo by Buzz Foto / Rex Features

The She’s the Man actor gave legal control of her healthcare and personal affairs to her mother Lynn Bynes following a judge’s decision on the case in 2014.

“She believes her condition is improved and protection of the court is no longer necessary,” Esquibias told People.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday, March 22.

The original conservatorship was made in the understanding that it could end when it was “no longer convenient” for the star, said the actor's lawyer.

The Easy A star made headlines last year after the release of the Framing Britney Spears documentary.

Her fans took to social media to ask people to #FreeAmanda, in a smaller but parallel trend to the #FreeBritney campaign.

The New York Times documentary about the Oops!… I Did It Again singer sparked a wider conversation around the subject of legal decisions appointing guardians to manage the affairs of another person.

There are several similarities between Spears’s and Bynes’s lives. Both women found fame at a young age, Britney on the The All-New Mickey Mouse Club series and Bynes on Nickelodeon’s All That. Both also had run-ins with Sam Lutfi — he was Spears's ex-manager and told The New Yorker that he advised Bynes’s family to place her in a conservatorship.

However, unlike Spears, Bynes's conservatorship no longer includes control of her finances, according to a previous comment by Esquibias.