I’ve been fascinated by Lindsay Lohan’s career renaissance. She started out small, with those Netflix holiday movies, but I wasn’t quite sure how her comeback would go. Clearly, she’s doing well, though, because she looks happy, healthy, and more comfortable on screen with each passing film. Lindsay married financier Bader Shammas in 2022, and they live in Dubai with their two-year-old son, Luai.

The LiLo-aissance continues this week. Freakier Friday drops this Friday, and Lindsay would like everyone to know that there is nothing freaky about her return to the big screen. She sat down for an interview with The Times to talk about the movie, her experiences with fame, protecting her family’s privacy, and more. It’s a long interview, but here are some of the highlights.

Advice to her teenage self: “To my teenage self?” she asks rhetorically, buying time. “I would say, ‘Slow down.’ Everybody back then was, ‘Go! Go! Go!’ I wish somebody could have been behind me, saying, ‘You’re all right. You can slow down, kid.’ ”

“[W]hen I was young I was fearless. I don’t know when it changed, but I loved acting because it is therapy for me. You draw from things that have impacted your life, bring those into a character and then just release them. They are then gone and they live with that character now. And I cherished that as I grew up in life. I had my own safe space — I could let my emotions go.”

Did she want fame? “I mean, it is kind of what you sign up for,” she says, shrugging. “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.”

She’s finally learned to keep her public and private lives separate: “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.”

She giggles a little deliriously, and then, her tone shifts, turns serious, her voice noticeably dropping. “But then, now, somebody will have a phone up all the time,” she adds. “That’s scary. That feels very uncomfortable. I’d rather someone just ask if they can take a photo or else you get cautious of every move you make.” And I suppose it is tougher when she is out in public with her family now — how can she stop people snooping on them? “I mean, that is another big thing,” she admits. “It’s something my husband and I discuss all the time. Do we want to show our son? We will know when the time might be right, but it’s also a protection.”

“But I think that way because my life was so public at such a young age — out there for people to see and interpret for themselves — and so I’m always thinking what the public perception of me is. Whether it’s a role or a colour I wear, I always think what the perception will be — that’s important to me.”

Living in Dubai: Was the [move to Dubai], which she made in 2014, in order to escape the chaos of her own celebrity and country? She nods. She wanted to live somewhere that, unlike LA, is not obsessed with one business and the flotsam that comes with it. “I lived like that and it’s not who I am,” she insists. “Dubai is a safe place where we can just have a normal life, outside of what I call ‘the noise’. Where my husband and I can see what is it right for our child. It’s not about me any more.”

[From The Times]

I’m impressed by how mature and reflective Lindsay is. We all know that she had a tumultuous young adulthood and we’ve seen how some young stars with virtually no support structure have turned out. It’s good that LiLo can separate her public and personal life now and wants to protect her son. It sounds like the combination of a supportive husband, time away from the spotlight, and possibly a bit of therapy did her good. She’s also reportedly been sober for a while now.

I always figured that if Lindsay wanted to make a comeback, she would do it. I also didn’t think she’d pull herself together to get here, so I’m pleasantly surprised. Part of me wondered how many bridges she’d burned, but of course she still had the right components to be granted a second chance. I truly wish her the best. That said, I wish she’d do an interview that addresses the more problematic things she did in the past. I wonder if she’s saving that for if she’s nominated for an Oscar some day.

Photos credit: James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon, Carlos Tischler/Alto Press/Avalon