Last month, Amanda Bynes — the former Nickelodeon star, Maxim cover girl and actress in movies like "She's the Man," "Sydney White" and the upcoming "Easy A" — announced that she was retiring from acting because she didn't love it anymore. But over the weekend, she pulled a complete about-face on her employment status. "I've unretired," she pithily announced via Twitter.
Bynes' exit from acting only lasted about a month, which is a pretty impressive turnaround. She joins the icons below on the list of the best unretirements of all time.
Jay-Z
Jay-Z's 2003 The Black Album was meant to be his exit from the hip-hop game (that's one of the reasons he allows himself to be executed at the end of the "99 Problems" video). But Jigga couldn't stay away for too long. He started showing up on other artists' albums not long after his retirement, and he dropped his "comeback" full-length Kingdom Come in 2006.
Terry Funk
The world of professional wrestling is known for its very loose understanding of the concept of retirement, as grapplers are constantly calling it quits only to come back soon after. Legendary wrestler Terry Funk has had so many retirement matches that it has become something of a joke (or a key part of his narrative, depending on how you look at it). Funk has considered himself "semi-retired" since a 2006 match with Jerry Lawler, but he often goes to the mat again in Japan and is scheduled to appear at the Gathering of the Juggalos next month.
Michael Jordan
After winning three straight NBA Championships, the best player in the NBA (and possibly of all-time) decided to hang it up and play baseball. But after two years away from the game, he came back and picked up right where he left off, winning three more Championships in a row.
George Foreman
Like wrestlers, boxers are constantly retiring only to come back when the money is right. Foreman first hung up his gloves way back in 1974, then came back and retired another two times. In his most famous comeback, the 45-year-old Foreman came out of retirement in 1994 to knock out Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history. Foreman's latest retirement came in 1997, and that one seems to have stuck.
Garth Brooks
There was a time when Garth Brooks was the biggest name in music. He sold millions and millions of albums, filled countless arenas and generally ruled the world for a handful of years in the early '90s. Satisfied with his empire, Brooks decided to tap out in 2005, announcing that he wasn't going to perform any more shows or record any new music for a decade. That didn't stick, as he did nine sold-out shows in Kansas City in 2007, and he recently came back to the spotlight with a series of shows in Las Vegas.
Who is your favorite unretired performer? Let us know in the comments!
