Lindsay Lohan: The Journey Of A Woman Coming Back From Personal And Career Failures

In the previous post, I mentioned Lindsay Lohan as I talked about Hilary Duff and her rift with the fellow actress over their shared relationship with singer Aaron Carter, who was another subject matter in a different post previously published. The previous post also heavily discussed the newly found business of nostalgia in the entertainment industry, so we if we’re talking about both Lohan and nostalgia, we can’t not mention the sequel that’s now being filmed to the 2003 hit film, ‘Freaky Friday’, which also stars Jamie Lee Curtis and co-stars Chad Michael Murray, who also starred in ‘A Cinderella Story’ with Hilary Duff, as well as Mark Harmon and Stephen Tobolowsky. The 2003 film also co-starred the late Willie Garson, who sadly passed away due to cancer in 2021. The first film also co-starred Harold Gould, who played Betty White’s boyfriend in ‘The Golden Girls’.

To say that Lohan has had an interesting career would be an understatement. She’s been working since she was 3 years old, but “only” got her big break when she played twins Hallie Parker and Annie James in the 1998 Disney flick, ‘The Parent Trap’, also starring Dennis Quaid and the late Natasha Richardson, of the Redgrave family. The reason why the word only is quotation marks is because Lohan was a 12 year old tween when the movie came out. Not a lot of people in their lifetime could ever say they found such massive success at just 12 years old. Lohan’s next big career move was another Disney flick, ‘Freaky Friday’, which was released five years after her breakout role(s). Following the success of ‘Freaky Friday, Lohan became an unstoppable force of nature. She starred in one movie after another – until she didn’t. Following the success of ‘Freaky Friday’ which is a remake of the 1976 movie of the same name starring Jodie Foster as Anna, Lohan starred in such movie as ‘Mean Girls’, ‘Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen’, ‘Herbie: Fully Loaded’, and ‘Georgia Rule’. In between, she released a couple of albums too. First, there was 2004’s ‘Speak’, and then 2005’s ‘A Little More Personal’.

Troubled beginnings

It was while she was filming ‘Georgia Rule’, which also starred Felicity Huffman, Jane Fonda, Garrett Hedlund, and Dermot Mulrony, that Lohan’s troubles began showing. It was the year 2006. Lindsay Lohan was a 20 year old young starlet at the time, but has already made a name for herself years prior. James G. Robinson, the chief of Morgan Creek Productions, wrote her letter after she’d shown unprofessional behaviour while working on the film. In part, the letter, which was leaked to the public, read, “You and your representatives have told us that your various late arrivals and absences from the set have been the result of illness; today we were told it was ‘heat exhaustion.’ We are well aware that your ongoing all night heavy partying is the real reason for your so-called ‘exhaustion.’”

Robinson was praised for the letter, particularly for sending the letter directly to Lohan herself rather than her representatives or publicists. The letter was called a wake up call for Lohan, and it really should’ve been. Dale Olson, a publicist whose resume includes working for Gene Kelley, Rock Hudson, and Steve McQueen said of the letter, ‘He is slapping her hands, and I found it refreshing that he was direct and didn’t go through an agent. It’s impossible really to have a secret in this town these days, but still, many people will never say what they think or be honest about what’s going on. Many of the young stars today don’t take their craft seriously — if it is craft — and they make too much money and don’t know how to behave.’ Another New York-based publicist said of the letter, ‘It’s a letter that has people saying, ‘Finally, someone is saying what they think and not letting some young star dictate what is acceptable.’’

The following year, Robinson opened up in an interview with CBS News that he was prompted to send Lohan the letter because she missed a full day of work without informing anyone. He said, ‘She missed a day of work without telling anybody and you can have a whole crew and cast standing around — plus the cost of half a million dollars a day lost. The letter served its purpose and she’s a great actress.’ And he was right; she IS a great actress. But her personal life, her partying ways more specifically, got overshadowed by that talent and created a boundary.

The road to failure

Things went for bad to worse following the filming of ‘Georgia Rule’. The letter was supposed to be a wake up call for Lohan, and it was; but only until production on ‘Georgia Rule’ went on. Following that movie, she worked on ‘I Know Who Killed Mr’, also released in 2007. It was a flop, and it’s just a nice way of putting it. Over the next decade, Lohan appeared in much lesser known, small budget projects, and appeared in much smaller roles than what she’d gotten used to. These include 2009’s TV movie, ‘Labor Pains’, 2013’s ‘The Canyons’, and a recurring guest appearance arc on ‘Ugly Betty.’

My previous post described how Hilary Duff’s personal life derailed her career as an artist. But it was her life as a wife and a mother that demoted her creative path. And she’s said in her interview with Zach Sang that she needed to take a break from music altogether because she didn’t know who she was or what she wanted anymore. Lindsay Lohan went through something similar, but on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Unlike Duff, Lohan wasn’t working much because she was deemed unhireable due to the bad reputation she’d built for her partying ways, unprofessional behaviour, and more.

‘The Canyons’ was a super low budget movie, which co-starred porn star James Deen, not to be confused with Hollywood legend, James Dean, who passed away in a plane crash in the 1950’s. The people behind the movie were hesitant to hire Lohan just like anyone else. She was initially considered to play a small role, but met with filmmakers to tell them she was only interested in playing the lead. Initially hesitant, they agreed. Filming would only last three weeks in July. How bad could it be?

But bad it was. Lohan kept not showing up for work and not letting anyone know about it. She told the filmmaker she was late because she was practicing her lines with co-star, Nolan Funk, until 3 AM, and then took a sleeping pill. Everyone was mad, and Lohan was given an ultimatum. The movie had so much budget to spare on her unprofessionalism. It was a $250,000 movie that aimed to look like it had a budget of a million dollars and more. Not enough words could describe how difficult it was to work with Lohan.

Of working with once sought out actress, James Deen opened up to Britain’s The Sun, ‘There were days when she would scream and yell and cry and refuse to come out. In porn, I am used to working with professionals who are courteous to others. But Lindsay was like a child lashing out.’ When director Paul Schrader asked Lohan to do a simple task that was to take off her shoes, Lohan threw a tantrum. Deen said, ‘It was a simple request. I am a short guy and it looked ridiculous with her towering over me in seven-inch heels. But she refused. She was crying and screaming that she was the star of the film. In the end it was decided I would wear boots to make me taller and she finally calmed down.’

Of working with Lohan Schrader said in 2013, ‘Today I am a free man. For the last 18 months I have been a hostage, of my own choosing, to a very talented but unpredictable actress.’ In a Facebook post, Schrader that part of the reason why Lohan was acting the way that she did was due to her clashing with her co-star, Deen. He wrote, ‘She was never comfortable working with James Deen and perhaps this still sticks in her craw. I assume those closest to her, her family and reps, had advised her to treat Canyons as an indiscretion.’ Schrader also criticized Lohan for not promoting the movie at all when it came out.

The Downfall

Lohan had an intense personal life that took a toll on her. It was almost as if she didn’t have time to work. During these yeas, she was seen partying, she was seeing doing drugs, she was seen hanging out with the wrong people, she was in and out of jail, rehab and back again, she was in and out of relationships; she was even in a relationship with a woman, DJ Samantha Aron’s on, between 2008 and 2009. In hindsight, her personal life became her full-time job.

After several stints in jail and rehab, Oprah Winfrey took a chance on Lohan. She did a lengthy interview with her, and even gave her an opportunity to appear in her own reality TV series in 2013 through OWN, Oprah’s production company. To say that Oprah invested in Lindsay Lohan and took a chance on her would really be an understatement. Oprah signed a deal with Lohan and paid her $2 million right as Lohan got out of rehab.

I watched OWN’s Lindsay Lohan docu-series to its entirety, and let me tell you; it was a mess. The show itself wasn’t a mess. Lindsay Lohan herself was a mess. It was such a mess that I’d say it was a mistake for it to be made. She wasn’t ready to be shown being so vulnerable at that stage in her life. She was just at the beginning stages of her sobriety and was trying to get her life and career back on track. Lohan’s aim with the documentary-series was to showcase her comeback, but it totally backfired.

The docu-series only elevated her troubles and only proved how unprofessional she really is. It showed Lohan not show up to several photoshoots and work meetings. It showed her be disrespectful to her employees without reason. It showed her refuse to film more times than the crew could count. Oprah was certainly getting frustrated, and she didn’t let that sh*t slide. The docu-series also showed Lohan filming herself with her own camera, and some of the content she made was… absurd and disturbing. It showed her hanging out with her friends where one of the people she hung out with had his ears pierced with a knife. It also showed her taking videos of herself while she travelled.

But the most disturbing video she took for the docu-series was a video of herself taking a glass of wine and sitting on the floor in her kitchen and crying while looking at the camera. It was so much as disturbing as it was sad. It was sad to watch her be like this, and that was the moment I personally realized that making this docu-series was a big mistake and a bad career move.

It was clear that this was a woman who was struggling with depression. She was hanging out with the wrong crowd. She was still drinking when she said herself previously to Oprah that alcohol was her drug of choice. She had too much going on in her life for her to handle at the time. She signed up to projects she wasn’t ready to commit to. And to top it all off, she had cameras around her ALL THE TIME. It wasn’t just Oprah’s film crew, but the paparazzi as well. In fact, the paparazzi was the main reason for her downfall. There was one instance where Lohan wanted to go to an AA meeting, but the paparazzi found out where she was going. She didn’t want to disrespect the privacy of other members of the meeting and have their pictures taken, so she ended up not going at all. Her assistant, Matt, tried to pay off one paparazzo so he wouldn’t take photos of Lohan, but to no avail. One photo of Lohan was worth a lot more than what Matt could afford. With that being said, how do you expect a woman at such a vulnerable place in her life to get better?

Abusive relationship

The next few years were still very difficult for Lohan. Following the filming of her docu-series, the actress revealed that she suffered a miscarriage. So on top of her sobriety journey and her recovery and everything else that was happening around her, she suffered a loss. In hindsight, though, it was probably best that she didn’t have a baby at such a vulnerable time in her life. It just wasn’t her time. And I’m not trying to be disrespectful. I myself suffered multiple losses before I had my son. It just wasn’t my time.

A few years later, Lohan went on to date Egor Tarabasov, who was 7 years younger than her and only 23 when they dated. She was even engaged to him at one point. By 2016, the couple split, and Tarabasov was photographed being aggressive and physically assaulting Lohan. It happened at Lohan’s 30th birthday celebration. During that fight, he also took her phone and threw it in the sand. Lohan then sat down for an interview with The Daily Mail where she spoke with Katie Nicholl, who called her brave. Lohan said, ‘The truth is, I wanted to make things work, but now I’m not sure that I can. Egor drank too much and he went crazy. I realize now you can’t stay in a relationship just for love. No woman can be hit and stay with that person if that person isn’t prepared to say sorry.

Lohan went on to open up about other times where her ex, a Russian millionaire, showed aggressive behaviour and abuse; specifically a time where he strangled her and almost killed her. She recounted, ‘Egor and I had been out for dinner. We danced, it was fun. When we got home I went to bed and Egor went out. A few hours later he came back, and when I woke up he was standing over me. He wasn’t himself, he was being very aggressive and he attacked me. It’s not the first time. That’s the problem. But this time, someone saw. I didn’t call anyone, I’ve dealt with enough police in L.A. I just left the house and went to the Connaught [Hotel] for the night. I contacted my good friend [Israeli socialite] Hofit Golan who was in St Tropez. She said, ‘Get on a plane, come and meet me,’ so I did. I needed some time for myself. I’ve spent the past week fishing on my friend Marco Mavilla’s yacht with his lovely family in Sardinia.’

The starlet wanted to do the interview for several reasons; the main one was to tell the truth before her ex ever could say anything. Lohan said, ‘I wanted to do this interview because it’s time to tell the truth. There have been so many lies printed about me recently. I’ve kept quiet for so long but now I’m scared of what Egor might do to me and to himself. I genuinely fell in love with him, but he broke my trust and made me feel unsafe. I know I’m not an angel, but I’ve tried to fix things. It’s down to him now. I had suggested we go for couples’ counseling, but there comes a time when I have to put myself first, my family, and also think about my career, which I’ve worked so hard for. I also don’t want to let my fans down by not being the strong woman I have become.’

Tarabasov’s friend defended him, who was formerly Lohan’s friend as well and was the one who introduced the pair, accused that Lohan was lying. She said he couldn’t do all the things that Lohan accused him of. I found it hilarious that his friend felt like she could talk, especially considering there are pictures and videos of Tarabasov being physically abusive towards Lohan that are easily searchable.

Nevertheless, Lohan did something great after the incident. She bought the beach where it all happened. It was a ‘F*ck you’ moment for her. And her Lohan Beach House was the focus of another reality show, this time aired on MTV. She sold the property, located in Mykonos, in 2019. I watched the show, and I have to say, she was a much different person than she was when she filmed her docu-series with Oprah. She was determined. She was fierce. And she showed who’s boss. She was professional and expected nothing less of those around her while also being respectful. It was refreshing to watch.

New beginnings

In 2014, Lohan decided to move to Dubai. In a recent interview with Bustle that was released in March, Lohan opened up on why she decided to make such a drastic move. She said, ‘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. 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.’’ It’s important to remember that paparazzi is illegal in Dubai.

Lohan also moved there to find love, and after she escaped her relationship with Tarabasov, she found her happiness when she met Bader Shammas. She married him in 2022 and the couple had a child, a son, the following year. Of finding love, Lohan said, ‘I was like, ‘What if I never fall in love? What if this never happens?’ And it took me just taking time for me for all those doors to open and the ‘yeses’ to come – the things I wanted to say ‘yes’ to.’

The 2020’s have certainly been good to Lohan so far, she’s gotten her sh*t together in both her personal life and professional life. Not only did she find what she was looking for in love, but she’s also been sober since 2014. Her career has also been thriving. 2022’s ‘Falling For Christmas’, which co-starred ‘’Glee’ star, Chord Overstreet, marked her official comeback, and she’s been unstoppable ever since.

What we can learn from Lindsay Lohan is that it’s never too late for us to make a fresh start for ourselves. Our fresh start doesn’t have to be as drastic as moving to a different country, though I personally know people who’ve done so. And even if after making such drastic changes in our lives we experience hiccups, it’s important to remember that it’s totally okay. It’s life. There’s always going to be hiccups. Nothing ever stays the same. We, as women especially, need not to give up on our happiness, both in our personal lives and our careers. Failure is not the end if we don’t let it be the end. It can be only the beginning of something special.