Strange journey of Lindsay Lohan: Early stardom, rehab stints and struggle to make a comeback

The journey has been full of ups and downs, due to her brushes with the law and stints in rehab
PUBLISHED MAY 26, 2020
Lindsay Lohan (Getty Images)
Lindsay Lohan (Getty Images)

Be it playing an adorable double role in 'Parent Trap' or a kid trying to be popular in 'Mean Girls', Lindsay Lohan won hearts and became a teen sensation. The journey has been full of ups and downs, due to her brushes with the law and stints in rehab. Despite a very bumpy showbiz journey, Lohan plowed through with her music career and released studio albums, and even went into the line of fashion. It's been a mixed bag of sorts for Lohan. 

Let's examine the rise and fall of Lohan and her struggle to get back into the limelight.

Big break with 'The Parent Trap'

Who didn't love this 90's family film? Before landing the dual role of the twin sisters in the Disney film, Lohan had appeared in over 60 television spots to 100 print ads. The success of the 1998 film, 'The Parent Trap', got her more roles in Disney films, including 'Freaky Friday' (2003) and 'Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen' (2004), and then a starring role in Paramount’s 'Mean Girls', She returned to Disney in 2005 to star in 'Herbie: Fully Loaded' and then went to work on her music career.

Constant spotlight in the tabloids

While she was climbing the stairs to stardom, Lohan's presence at New York nightclubs made it to tabloids, and her lifestyle became a permanent feature in newspapers, as her father's prison scandals, as well as her battles with bulimia became known to the public and got more fabricated. In 2007, she was arrested twice, was found in possession of small amounts of cocaine and was charged with two counts of driving under the influence and a single count of reckless driving. The very year, she had three stints in rehab. Between 2007 and 2012, Lohan’s “struggle with drugs and alcohol sent her to five rehab facilities for a total of 250 days.

In 2010, she was compelled to spend 13 days in jail after violating probation and absconding from seven alcohol education classes. She even attended court-ordered rehab from October 22, 2010, to January 3, 2011. In December 2016, Lohan told People that she was attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in order to stay clean.” She said at the time, “I was going out too much, and I knew that, and I have more to live for than that.”

Smattering of television appearances

Lohan appeared as a guest star on 'Ugly Betty'. However, her six-episode appearance was cut short after she got into a fight with the lead actor America Ferrera. According to Fox News, Lohan "would obsessively cut pictures of herself out of the tabloids like she was creating some sort of scrapbook and refused to go on set until America was there — it was a power play.”

In 2009, she appeared in 'Labor Pains', and in 2012, she acted in the film 'Liz & Dick'. In 2014, she performed in a London production of the play, 'Speed the Plow.'

Keeping out of the spotlight

When she entered her 30s, Lohan started spending more time at her home in Dubai and tried to stay out of the spotlight. The New York Times also reported that “if there’s one thing Ms Lohan wants the public to know about her personal life, it’s that there’s almost nothing that she wants them to know.” She said that she wants people to know that “I’m a normal, nice person. A good person. I don’t have any bad intentions. And my past has to stay in the past.”

Lohan added, “People have to just let go of it and stop bringing it up because it’s not — it’s gone. It’s dead. And that’s the most important thing to me.” She says that despite constant tabloid coverage, the public has never known the real Lindsay Lohan at all.

Slamming #MeToo

Well, she got into more mudslinging when she defended Harvey Weinstein and slammed women for sharing their 'MeToo' stories. "He’s never harmed me or did anything to me — we’ve done several movies together. I think everyone needs to stop — I think it’s wrong.”

*Crickets chirping*

The latest update on Lohan is that she shared news of a 'Parent Trap' reunion, and that she is determined to get the ball rolling on her 'Mean Girls' sequel. "Think that I was hanging onto that for a really long idea," Lohan told E! News. "I kind of wanted to come back with like a Mean Girls 2, with the same cast and work with Tina[ Fey] and the whole crew again and [director] Mark Waters."

Will Lohan make a real and memorablecomeback? *Will* she?

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