Lindsay Lohan is speaking candidly about fame’s enduring impact and how Hollywood continues to restrict her acting opportunities, despite her extensive career spanning decades.
In a recent interview with The Times UK before the release of her upcoming film Freakier Friday, the sequel to 2003’s Freaky Friday, the 39-year-old actress discussed fame’s pressures, typecasting challenges, and her ultimate decision to leave Hollywood.
Lohan expressed ongoing frustration with landing diverse roles, noting her frequent typecasting despite demonstrating range. “Yeah, I do think I was pigeonholed,” she said, mentioning that working alongside Meryl Streep in A Prairie Home Companion seemed like a breakthrough. “Which is frustrating. Because, well, you know me as this, but you also know I can do that. So let me! Give me the chance.” She added, “I have to break that cycle and open doors to something else, leaving people no choice. And in due time, if Martin Scorsese reaches out, I’m not going to say no.”
After stepping back from acting in 2008 to focus on personal matters, Lohan eventually relocated to Dubai in 2015, leaving Los Angeles behind. The move provided relief from constant paparazzi attention. “I don’t ever want my family to experience being chased by the paparazzi the way I was. They were terrifying moments I had in my life—I have PTSD to the extreme from those things,” she went on. “The most invasive situations. Really scary. And I pray stuff like that never comes back. It’s not safe. It’s not fair.”
In a recent Bustle interview, Lohan reflected that negative media coverage during her early career overshadowed her professional achievements. “I feel like some of [my work] got overshadowed by paparazzi and all that kind of stuff when I was younger, and that’s kind of annoying. I wish that part didn’t happen,” she said. “I feel like that kind of took on a life of its own. So that’s why I wanted to disappear. I was like, ‘Unless there’s no story here, they’re not going to focus on just my work.'”
Beyond Freakier Friday, Lohan will star in and executive produce Count My Lies, an upcoming Hulu thriller where she portrays a manipulative nanny embroiled in secrets. She’s also expressed keen interest in returning to character-driven classic films. “There are not many major movies I want to go and see that are like that — there’s a gap and I’m craving to do work like that,” she said.
Now married to Bader Shammas, whom she met in Dubai, and mother to son Luai, Lohan indicates she’s entering a new chapter.
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