Steven Hirsch/ Splash News; Todd Williamson/Getty ImagesAs a fellow child star now grown up, Kevin Zegers has a little insight into Amanda Bynes' current situation.
In a letter posted to Twitter Sunday as "Food for thought," the now 28-year-old Air Bud alum vented about a society that not-so-secretly loves to see a child star experience a tragically public meltdown.
"It's a razor thin line between the top and the bottom," he wrote, explaining he doesn't "think anyone really cares about the wattage" of the star—be it Amanda, Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears.
"What really interests people is the collapse," he explained. "The free fall from adored to scorned. From beloved, to bat s--t crazy. From dimpled starry eyed kid, to shaven headed rambling manic. And people love it. They eat it up."
Zegers wrote that he hasn't "suffered from nearly the amount of childhood success" as Bynes, but he finds himself "watching this person implode with a certain amount of familiarity."
He admitted to "having trundled into some fairly dark and rancid places" himself, only the public wasn't "tuned in for my demise."
"But it did happen, as it does with most of 'us,'" he explained, of the darker days that often follow a childhood in the limelight. "Cute little funny kids who once spurned cheek pinched and coos, are now staggering dope fiends wandering Buffalo. This is the rule, not the exception. Only a few of us emerge from the other side in tact."
His main takeaway? "Lets not all act shocked about what is happening to Amanda Bynes. Or pretend we haven't seen this unfold before," he wrote. "Lets take ownership of our piece of the story. The wide eyed observer. Secretly hoping for carnage. Praying for it in fact. The part of us that slows down at car wrecks to perhaps see some blood. Titillated and detached."
"It's time we accept that just like all dogs go to heaven, this stuff happens to people like Amanda Bynes," he concluded. "It's not our fault, but maybe it's not entirely hers either."