Amanda Bynes has been gone from our screens for some time, but there was a time where she was one of the best-known actors of her generation. Ten years ago she was on the cover of every magazine, but now she's out of the spotlight.

While she has spent the last few years retired from acting, avoiding the spotlight as she completes a degree at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in LA, she was recently interviewed by Paper Magazine - and it looks like she may be making a comeback of sorts.

While she expresses some interest in designing her own fashion line one day, she claimed that, "I want to get back into acting first". After her TV years, she revealed she's effectively behind the launch of Channing Tatum's career, after she co-starred with the actor in She's The Man.

"I totally fought for Channing [to get cast in] that movie because he wasn't famous yet. He'd just done a Mountain Dew commercial and I was like, 'This guy's a star — every girl will love him!' But [the producers] were like, 'He's so much older than all of you!' And I was like, 'It doesn't matter! Trust me!'"

While this was the start for Tatum, the film had a negative effect on Bynes' mental health. "When the movie came out and I saw it," she says, "I went into a deep depression for 4-6 months because I didn't like how I looked when I was a boy. I've never told anyone that."

She refers to 2007's Hairspray remake as "the most amazing experience I've ever had on a set," but things started to go downhill afterwards, when she began to turn more and more to drugs.

"I started smoking marijuana when I was 16. Even though everyone thought I was the 'good girl,' I did smoke marijuana from that point on." She hastens to add, "I didn't get addicted [then] and I wasn't abusing it. And I wasn't going out and partying or making a fool of myself... yet."

Later progressing to "doing molly and ecstasy" and trying cocaine (which she never liked), she turned to Adderall, which she believes she abused. After reading that Adderall was 'the new skinny pill', she jumped on the drug, but it definitely became a problem on the set of Hall Pass. "I remember chewing on a bunch of them and literally being scatterbrained and not being able to focus on my lines or memorize them for that matter," she added.

"The mixture of being so high that I couldn't remember my lines and not liking my appearance" led to Bynes pulling out of the film last minute according to the actress.

"I made a bunch of mistakes but I wasn't fired," she said. "It was definitely completely unprofessional of me to walk off and leave them stranded when they'd spent so much money on a set and crew and camera equipment and everything."

Soon after her appearance in Easy A, a performance she didn't like, she chose to retire from acting completely - a move she now feels was "really foolish". From there, her life became aimless for a while, as she became more isolated and would "'wake and bake' and literally be stoned all day long".

Soon, she started "hanging out with a seedier crowd" which lead to more drugs, and the creation of "a really dark, sad world for me" - and her behaviour wasn't always just self-destructive, but led to hurtful things she said about other people during this time, which she expresses regret for.

"I'm really ashamed and embarrassed with the things I said. I can't turn back time but if I could, I would. And I'm so sorry to whoever I hurt and whoever I lied about because it truly eats away at me. It makes me feel so horrible and sick to my stomach and sad."

Now, Bynes has been sober for four years, and is beginning to turn her life around:

"My advice to anyone who is struggling with substance abuse would be to be really careful because drugs can really take a hold of your life. Everybody is different, obviously, but for me, the mixture of marijuana and whatever other drugs and sometimes drinking really messed up my brain.

"It really made me a completely different person. I actually am a nice person. I would never feel, say or do any of the things that I did and said to the people I hurt on Twitter."

But it looks like Bynes' life is heading to a more positive place, and we may be seeing her on our screens sometime soon. "I have no fear of the future," she concludes. "I've been through the worst and came out the other end and survived it so I just feel like it's only up from here."

Amanda Bynes has been gone from our screens for some time, but there was a time where she was one of the best-known actors of her generation. Ten years ago she was on the cover of every magazine, but now she's out of the spotlight.

While she has spent the last few years retired from acting, avoiding the spotlight as she completes a degree at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in LA, she was recently interviewed by Paper Magazine - and it looks like she may be making a comeback of sorts.

While she expresses some interest in designing her own fashion line one day, she claimed that, "I want to get back into acting first". After her TV years, she revealed she's effectively behind the launch of Channing Tatum's career, after she co-starred with the actor in She's The Man.

"I totally fought for Channing [to get cast in] that movie because he wasn't famous yet. He'd just done a Mountain Dew commercial and I was like, 'This guy's a star — every girl will love him!' But [the producers] were like, 'He's so much older than all of you!' And I was like, 'It doesn't matter! Trust me!'"

While this was the start for Tatum, the film had a negative effect on Bynes' mental health. "When the movie came out and I saw it," she says, "I went into a deep depression for 4-6 months because I didn't like how I looked when I was a boy. I've never told anyone that."

She refers to 2007's Hairspray remake as "the most amazing experience I've ever had on a set," but things started to go downhill afterwards, when she began to turn more and more to drugs.

"I started smoking marijuana when I was 16. Even though everyone thought I was the 'good girl,' I did smoke marijuana from that point on." She hastens to add, "I didn't get addicted [then] and I wasn't abusing it. And I wasn't going out and partying or making a fool of myself... yet."

Later progressing to "doing molly and ecstasy" and trying cocaine (which she never liked), she turned to Adderall, which she believes she abused. After reading that Adderall was 'the new skinny pill', she jumped on the drug, but it definitely became a problem on the set of Hall Pass. "I remember chewing on a bunch of them and literally being scatterbrained and not being able to focus on my lines or memorize them for that matter," she added.

"The mixture of being so high that I couldn't remember my lines and not liking my appearance" led to Bynes pulling out of the film last minute according to the actress.

"I made a bunch of mistakes but I wasn't fired," she said. "It was definitely completely unprofessional of me to walk off and leave them stranded when they'd spent so much money on a set and crew and camera equipment and everything."

Soon after her appearance in Easy A, a performance she didn't like, she chose to retire from acting completely - a move she now feels was "really foolish". From there, her life became aimless for a while, as she became more isolated and would "'wake and bake' and literally be stoned all day long".

Soon, she started "hanging out with a seedier crowd" which lead to more drugs, and the creation of "a really dark, sad world for me" - and her behaviour wasn't always just self-destructive, but led to hurtful things she said about other people during this time, which she expresses regret for.

"I'm really ashamed and embarrassed with the things I said. I can't turn back time but if I could, I would. And I'm so sorry to whoever I hurt and whoever I lied about because it truly eats away at me. It makes me feel so horrible and sick to my stomach and sad."

Now, Bynes has been sober for four years, and is beginning to turn her life around:

"My advice to anyone who is struggling with substance abuse would be to be really careful because drugs can really take a hold of your life. Everybody is different, obviously, but for me, the mixture of marijuana and whatever other drugs and sometimes drinking really messed up my brain.

"It really made me a completely different person. I actually am a nice person. I would never feel, say or do any of the things that I did and said to the people I hurt on Twitter."

But it looks like Bynes' life is heading to a more positive place, and we may be seeing her on our screens sometime soon. "I have no fear of the future," she concludes. "I've been through the worst and came out the other end and survived it so I just feel like it's only up from here."