Amanda Bynes has been on a lot of people’s minds lately–for better or worse–after a rough year filled with arrests and bizarre behavior that ultimately ended in an involuntary stay in a mental health facility. Now, she’s receiving support from some people from her past, including Nick Cannon.

Cannon, who is now the host of “America’s Got Talent”, worked with Bynes on the Nickelodeon show “All That” several years ago and penned an open letter to her in a show of solidarity.

“Lately I have been hit with an onslaught of questions about someone I consider family, someone I watched grow up, and someone I genuinely feel is one of the most pleasant human beings I have had the pleasure of meeting, Amanda Bynes,” Cannon wrote on his website. “The entertainment industry just consumes people and spits them out like flavorless bubblegum. A few chews of enjoyment then they’re under a city bus bench…When a person is told all of their life that they are awesome, the best, the greatest and they are catered to every moment of the day. Imagine being the breadwinner in your household before you can even drive. Imagine you parents, teachers, and employers NEVER telling you NO. Anything you ask for or want, the world gives you, at some point you are bound to self-destruct. I call this ‘access to excess’. I’ve seen it happen to many of my friends and colleagues young and old. It goes back to that old saying; ‘Too much of anything is bad for anyone’. Whether it’s fame, money, sex, drugs, attention. It’s all a dangerous addiction. When there is no balance in your life a person will always become victim to their reality or lack thereof. So I say to my sister Amanda Bynes you’re not alone. I’m here for you. I understand. I care and I appreciate you, because that’s what family does and that’s what family is for. I also extend this to anyone else in my life, past or present that may find themselves in hard times. I’m here! Call me! Because I truly believe, the hand you’re helping up today may be the one you’re reaching for tomorrow.”

Bynes was taken into custody last month after setting a fire in a stranger’s driveway in California, injuring her own dog in the process. She had been exhibiting odd behavior well before that, however, and is said to have schizophrenic tendencies.