Lindsay Lohan has opened up about experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the “terrifying moments” she faced at the height of her celebrity.
The 39-year-old actor rose to fame as a child star with a role in the 1998 family film The Parent Trap, and was the subject of intense, and often hostile, media attention as a young adult.
In an interview with The Times, Lohan, who now shares a two-year-old son with her husband, financier Bader Shammas, reflected on the experience.
“I don’t ever want my family to experience being chased by the paparazzi the way I was,” she said.
“They were terrifying moments I had in my life – I have PTSD to the extreme from those things. The most invasive situations. Really scary. And I pray stuff like that never comes back. It’s not safe. It’s not fair.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Lohan discussed her “frustrating” experiences in the film industry as she struggled to break free of typecasting.
Since the early days of her career, Lohan has been best known for her work in comedies. The actor pointed to the forthcoming Hulu series Count My Lies as giving her the sort of “meaty” role that she’s struggled to find in the past.
“I miss films that are stories, like All About Eve or Breakfast at Tiffany’s. 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.
Asked if she thought she was pigeonholed, Lohan replied: “Yeah, I do. I was so thrilled to work on [the acclaimed 2006 Robert Altman drama] A Prairie Home Companion, and yet even today I have to fight for stuff that is like that, 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. 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.”
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Lohan can next be seen in the long-awaited sequel to the popular 2003 comedy Freaky Friday, opposite Jamie Lee Curtis. Freakier Friday is in cinemas from Friday 8 August.
