Amanda Bynes has been banned from Barneys New York after being stopped for shoplifting in the upmarket department store.
The troubled actress – who has sparked fresh concerns for her welfare following a spate of recent erratic behaviour – left Barneys New York wearing a hat she hadn’t paid for and was stopped by security guards, who let her go after she agreed not to return to the department store.
A NYPD spokesperson told People: “Police responded to a petit larceny. Amanda Bynes placed a hat on her head and left the store. Security brought her back in and called the police, but the security decided to release her … She was gone when the NYPD arrived on the scene.”
Police confirmed no charges were filed but the actress had agreed to sign a no-trespass affidavit, banning her from the store.
The 28-year-old actress insisted the situation was a misunderstanding and she had been trying to escape people trying to take her picture and had the permission of one security guard to leave the store but there was miscommunication with another member of staff.
She said: “I was walking out of the store to get my handbag out of the car. I had been harassed by a man – a man and this woman were basically trying to take my picture inside the store, and so I asked them to stop taking it, but they wouldn’t … They were like paparazzi but undercover. I walked out of the store, and the sensor went off. I didn’t realise I was wearing my cap. And the cap – I was purchasing it, and I was actually still shopping.”
Amanda – who was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) last month – also confirmed she can no longer return to the upmarket store.
She said: “I basically just had to leave. They said, ‘Please, just don’t shop at Barneys anymore.’ But oh well. It’s fine.”
It’s also been revealed that an hour before the incident in Barneys on Wednesday, Amanda also reportedly tried to take a shirt from another boutique without paying.
A source told TMZ that staff didn’t recognise the She’s the Man star and thought she was a “half-naked, homeless crackhead” when she entered the upmarket boutique.
Customers claim the 28-year-old actress was “dancing and muttering about plastic surgery” before trying to leave with the shirt.
When an employer asked if she was going to pay, she said: “Do I really have to buy this?” Amanda then handed over her credit card to cover the R 1 400 cost of the shirt.
Following the incident at Barneys, the troubled star – who has sparked fresh concerns for her welfare following a spate of recent erratic behaviour – claimed the situation was a misunderstanding and she had been trying to escape people trying to take her picture and had the permission of one security guard to leave the store but there was miscommunication with another member of staff.
