Amanda Bynes and Drake Bell were Nickelodeon co-stars on The Amanda Show. Their public connection beyond that work is a 2013 social-media episode in which Bynes posted sexualized messages about Bell. Bell publicly questioned whether she was the author and called the posts “weird and disturbing.” In 2017, Bynes said she had meant the tweet but was also using drugs and trying to be funny. Bell later said the two exchanged messages around 2017 and have not spoken since. The reporting available does not establish that they ever dated, and it does not show a current friendship.
Where the two careers overlapped
The Amanda Show ran on Nickelodeon from 1999 to 2002 for three seasons and featured both performers, according to Complex’s 2025 report. Bell later co-starred with Josh Peck in Drake & Josh. That shared history is the only documented working relationship between Bynes and Bell, and nothing in the reporting reviewed describes a romantic involvement.
The 2013 tweets and Bell’s response
In August 2013, Bynes posted messages on Twitter that expressed attraction to Bell, one of them sexually charged. Bell responded in an interview with XXL, which the Los Angeles Times reported on August 7, 2013. He said, “If that is her, I guess it’s a little weird and disturbing.” He also said he did not know who was behind the account, adding: “Whoever is behind it, whether it’s her or somebody else, they know people are paying attention so they keep it going.”
The exchange was a public social-media episode, not evidence of a personal relationship. It also took place during a period of serious public difficulty in Bynes’s life, which is why it is better read as a documented event with limited context than as entertainment.
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Bynes’s 2017 explanation
Four years later, Bynes addressed the tweet in a Hollyscoop interview. Vanity Fair quoted her saying, “I actually wasn’t being insincere,” and adding: “I was serious, but I was also on drugs. So that was my way of saying like, ‘Let’s do this, man.’ But I was on drugs and trying to be hilarious.”
This is Bynes’s own retrospective account. It has not been independently verified, and it should not be read as a medical or clinical conclusion about what drove her behavior.
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Bell’s account of later contact
In a 2025 conversation reported by Complex, Bell said he reached out to Bynes around 2017 and that they messaged back and forth. He said he had not spoken with her since. He described her warmly, saying, “she was an idol to me.”
In the same podcast discussion, Josh Peck said he had encountered Bynes occasionally and praised her, and Complex described both men as speaking positively about her. These remarks are affectionate, but they do not indicate that Bell and Bynes are currently in touch.
The three storylines at a glance
| Storyline | When | What is documented | What is not established |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work relationship | 1999–2002 | Co-stars on The Amanda Show, which ran three seasons (Complex, 2025) | Any romantic involvement: not stated in the reporting reviewed |
| 2013 social-media posts | August 2013 | Bynes’s sexualized posts about Bell; Bell’s public response to XXL, quoted by the Los Angeles Times | Who controlled the account: Bell said he did not know, and the reporting does not resolve it |
| Bynes’s explanation | June 2017 | Hollyscoop interview, quoted by Vanity Fair: she meant the tweet, was also using drugs, and was trying to be funny | Independent verification of her state at the time: not stated |
| Private messages | Around 2017, as Bell recalled in 2025 | Bell says they messaged back and forth, then stopped | Any contact since: not stated; Bell said he has not spoken with her since |
Keep Brian Peck’s case separate
Bell’s account of abuse by former dialogue coach Brian Peck is a separate matter. It is covered in the documentary Quiet on Set and does not involve Bynes. The Los Angeles Times’ 2024 overview reports that Bell said he was abused and notes that Brian Peck was sentenced to 16 months in prison in 2004 and ordered to register as a sex offender.
The same overview reports that Bynes had not publicly commented on the documentary. Citing TMZ, it also reports that she and her parents declined to participate. That detail is secondhand, and the reasons for the decision are not stated in the reporting.
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What the record does and does not show
- Bynes and Bell worked together on The Amanda Show. The record shows no romantic relationship.
- Bynes posted sexualized messages about Bell in 2013. Bell questioned whether she was the author, and his public response was critical.
- Bynes later said she meant the tweet but was also using drugs and trying to be funny. That is her own account.
- Bell says the two messaged around 2017 and have not spoken since. No reporting reviewed shows current contact.
The most accurate answer is therefore narrow: two former co-stars were connected by a 2013 public exchange, and later private messages that Bell described as the last time they spoke.
Coverage cited here runs through March 2025 for the most recent remarks, so any contact after that date is outside this account.
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