Amanda Bynes Cheek Piercing Photos Have Her Back In News After Driving Snafu

The decision to let the world see her newest piece of bling has Bynes back in the news for the first time after she was caught up in a driving snafu that left her facing two misdemeanor charges of driving on a suspended license.

Bynes created a Tumblr account in recent days, and she tweeted a link out to it Monday night. When users clicked the link, they were treated to a close-up photo of Bynes' new cheek piercing -- a simple silver stud smack-dab in the middle of her left cheek. The first photo was an odd, grainy black-and-white image, but she quickly followed it up the following day with a color picture of her back behind the wheel of a car bearing the cheek piercing.

The pictures of Bynes with a facial piercing may seem out of character to many who associate the 26-year-old with her days as a child actress on Nickelodeon TV.

But that wholesome image had already been tarnished when she got in trouble with the law for a series of driving incidents that had her facing a number of charges, some of which were later dropped.

Bynes was charged in September with two counts of hit-and-run stemming from two Los Angeles-area traffic incidents in April and August of last year, according to Us Weekly. The charges were dropped in September; she also was hit with one DUI charge and two charges of driving on a suspended license, but only the suspended license charges stand, according to Us Weekly.

She was also photographed smoking what looked like a pipe while driving last year, but no charges were filed in that incident, according to ABC News.

Apparently there isn't much to do other than stick jewelry through your face when you're "retired" at 26, as she declared in an interview with Us in November.

"I'm 26, a multi-millionaire, retired," she told the magazine in a conversation following her driving incidents in which she endeavored to debunk the charges that she was drinking (she said she doesn't drink) and beginning to spiral out of control.