Lindsay Lohan’s time in the spotlight has been varied. She garnered attention as a tween after starring in The Parent Trap and sustained an acting career as a teenager with movies like Freaky Friday, Mean Girls, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. Things took a turn in her 20s, when Lohan encountered legal trouble which resulted in career setbacks. Now she is in a refreshed new phase of her career, and is looking back on being famous so young and why she thinks things are different now.
In a recent interview with The Times, Lohan got candid about becoming famous at only 12 years old, but starting her Hollywood career modeling at 3 years old, and starring in soap operas quickly thereafter. She is thankful for the opportunities she had to grow her career as an actress, however being famous was not all it was cracked up to be, and being followed around as a teenager certainly wasn’t what she wanted. She explained:
I mean, it is kind of what you sign up for. You want to achieve acclaim, though maybe not all the aspects that come with it. You’re not asking to be followed and have people be intrusive toward you.
Lohan only became famous the more she worked. She was doing multiple films a year that she constantly had to promote as well. She did television appearances, red carpets, and hosted Saturday Night Live four times. Lohan was seemingly unstoppable, and so was the star that was rising. But becoming famous so young, so fast when she was still trying to discover who she was, ended up being negative for her public image and led her to some of the less glamorous moments in her career.
The Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen star ended up dropping out of the spotlight, and is now able to look back on her child star days, and wild 20s with open eyes and an open heart. She believes that going so fast at such a young age was how she ran into trouble, and she believes that the tabloid era she became famous exacerbated the situation. Lohan explained that she’s jealous of young actors coming up now because they have more of an independent voice these days with social media, and she thinks her career would’ve been different had she come of age now. The actress said:
I feel that it doesn’t happen as badly now as it did. It was way worse when I was younger, but now, because of social media, people can tell their own story in the way that you want it to be told. It has reclaimed the ownership of your life. We didn’t have that and so, no, I don’t think anybody chose that life, but what I have learnt over time is how to separate my private life and public life, and that was difficult for me because nobody ever teaches you how to do that.
This is an interesting point, as social media allows actors to express themselves the way they want to be viewed, instead of a tabloid taking control of a story and dictating a public image. As a result, Lohan is much more of a private citizen these days. She got married in 2022 and Lohan welcomed a baby boy in 2023. The actress has also re-located to Dubai, where she has lived for over 10 years. She has been open about her struggles with addiction and her sobriety journey.
This step away ended up being healing, and Lohan has gotten her career back on track, starring in rom-coms like Irish Wish and Our Little Secret. Lohan has expressed ambitions for even more juicy roles in the future, and is truly proud of the actress for overcoming some struggles she had from being in the public eye so young. I personally can’t wait to see what she does next, and am rooting for her.
You can see Lindsay Lohan alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in Freakier Friday, which hits theaters on August 8th, 2025. It's a sequel to the beloved comedy, Freaky Friday, which is currently available to stream with a Disney+ subscription. For more information on other exciting titles heading to the big screen this year, make sure to consult our 2025 movie release schedule.
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