Photo: Getty Images
Lindsay Lohan was a household name in the early 2000s, a fixture in many millennials' childhoods thanks to roles in iconic films like The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, but she ended up leaving the Hollywood life behind following the height of her success. Now, she is reflecting on her return to the spotlight and revealing what made her take a step away in the first place.
In an interview with Bustle, Lohan shared that the paparazzi and the negative attention it often led to was one of the reasons she decided to make a change and leave the limelight. She ended up moving to London over a decade ago before ultimately finding a home in Dubai, per E! News.
"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," she said. "I wish that part didn't happen."
The Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen actress was the subject of intense media scrutiny and paparazzi coverage in the mid-2000s, alongside other Hollywood starlets like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, so much so that she said it made her want to "disappear."
"I feel like that kind of took on a life of its own," she said. "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.'"
Lohan, who previously spoke about how stars today experience fame differently than she did when she was younger, added that stars today have more "control of their own story" thanks to how different social media is than in years' past. That doesn't mean that the tabloids of her time don't still try to push narratives; Lohan, however, doesn't pay them any mind.
"I don't really pay attention to that," she said. "I don't really read stuff that comes out either. 'Cause I know how it works, so there's no point. And if you immerse yourself in that stuff, you're just going to get lost, and it can just do so much to you."
Since her return to Hollywood over the past few years, Lohan has appeared in the 2023 musical remake of Mean Girls, starred in the 2022 Netflix holiday film Falling for Christmas and is set to star in another movie from the streaming giant, called Irish Wish.
Lohan has also had a fulfilling life outside of Hollywood, meeting and marrying husband Bader Shammas and welcoming their first child together, 8-month-old son Luai.