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Lindsay Lohan is opening up about the "hard" realities of finding fame as a teenager.
In a new interview with Vogue Arabia, published Thursday (February 26), the Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen actress, 39, reflected on growing up in the spotlight. While she already had several acting credits to her name by the time she was a teen, the fame and attention became "so overwhelming and consuming" after she starred in the beloved 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls when she was 17 years old, per People.
"I should have listened to my mom and dad and moved back to New York. But I was young and wanted to be in LA. And I didn't know," she said. "So yeah, while a lot of it was fun, it was hard when I was young. It was a double-edged sword. Now I look back and wonder, 'Why didn't anyone just go and take me out of there, protect me more?' You don't know how to do that yourself when you're a teenager."
Lohan explained that she eventually moved herself away to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2014 because she wanted to step away from cameras to find a life outside of Hollywood. She ultimately built a life in the city with her husband Bader Shammas, whom she married in 2022, and their 2-year-old son Luai. It's only been in recent years that she has made her return in Netflix rom-coms like Irish Wish and Falling for Christmas as well as Freakier Friday, the long-awaited sequel to 2003's Freaky Friday.
"I wasn't having fun in the business anymore," she said. "I wasn't finding roles I loved. It's not a life I wanted to live, you know? It's not a real life. It pushed me so far away that I moved to the other side of the world. And I'm so glad I followed my gut."