Lindsay Lohan Reveals the Power of Saying No as a Part of Her Return to Hollywood

Lindsay Lohan’s return to Hollywood might be one of the most welcome for Millennials. She was a big part of everyone’s childhood from Freaky Friday to Mean Girls, Lohan was everywhere. However, her child and teen stardom in the entertainment industry came at a price, and it took some inner work and her own self-exile from Los Angeles to find her voice again.

The 37-year-old actress revealed to Bustle that her starring role in the West End’s production of Speed-the-Plow was a turning point for her. She didn’t have to say yes to every opportunity that came her way. That was a revelation for her because her childhood years were about jumping at every job. “They teach you to say, ‘yes’ to everything, and that’s not really what life’s all about,” she explained.

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Her team had her going at a frenetic pace to keep up with her success which was a dizzying swirl of box-office hits and paparazzi lows. “I was recording an album in my trailer on the set of the movie [Herbie Fully Loaded] and promoting the album while shooting, like, TRL,” she recalled of the years 2004 and 2005. Lohan wasn’t getting the basic care and rest that she needed in her late teens and early 20s. “I remember this so specifically: I had to go to the dentist. I had no time to go to the dentist, but something happened with my tooth. The dentist had to come to see me. It was just so much all the time,” she noted.

Lohan’s coverage by the tabloids at the height of her fame is no secret, but she understands that “some of [her work] got overshadowed by paparazzi” which she finds “kind of annoying.” But it got her to a place where a break from Hollywood was exactly what she — and her fans — needed. “I wish that part didn’t happen,” Lohan said. “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.’”

She settled in Dubai to reassess her life and find out who she was as an adult — and that’s when her world blossomed in the most beautiful ways: a marriage to financier Bader Shammas in 2022, and welcoming her son, Luai, in 2023. It was exactly what she wanted. “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,” she divulged.

With a new Netflix rom-com, Irish Wish, dropping on March 15, and a Freaky Friday sequel on the horizon, it’s easy to see that Lohan’s comeback is a sweet one on her own terms.

Before you go, click here to see more celeb moms who put their careers on hold to stay home with their kids.

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