It’s been a few years since we last heard from her, but Amanda Bynes is back, baby! The former teen actor is the subject of a new Paper magazine profile, but don’t worry—things are going pretty swell for the previously troubled star. And while she’s mostly famous for starring in teen and tween projects like What A Girl Wants and All That, Bynes says she’s also responsible for discovering one of America’s cherished imaginary boyfriends.
In the new profile, Bynes revisits some of her earlier career highlights, including the teen rom-com She’s The Man, in which she co-starred opposite Channing Tatum. According to Bynes, we wouldn’t even know who the hell Channing Tatum is if it weren’t for her:
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!’
So there you have it. If Amanda Bynes hadn’t been chilling at home, just watching TV and (presumably) munching on some Funyuns, she never would have seen that Mountain Dew commercial, and the world may have never known the joy that is Channing Tatum and his abs. You’re welcome, America.
It’s worth checking out the rest of the piece, in which Bynes sheds light on her battle with addiction and a handful of her more infamous Twitter moments.