EXCLUSIVE: Inside 'Healthy and Happy' Lindsay Lohan's Return to the Spotlight — As 'Freaky Friday' Star Turns 40
Lindsay Lohan has returned to the spotlight after years away from Hollywood.
July 1 2026, Published 2:50 p.m. ET
Lindsay Lohan overcame substance abuse issues, run-ins with the law and industry drama in her younger years and has come back "happy and healthy."
Ahead of the Freaky Friday star's milestone 40th birthday on July 2, RadarOnline.com revisits the ups and downs of her Hollywood career and her return to the spotlight.
Inside Lindsay Lohan's Child Stardom
Lindsay Lohan shot to fame, but suffered tumultuous times amid substance abuse issues.
Lohan, 39, rapidly rose to fame in the late '90s when she took on the dual role of adorable redhead twins in The Parent Trap (1998), starring alongside Dennis Quaid and the late Natasha Richardson.
As her career progressed, she went on to become an icon of the early 2000s in Freaky Friday (2003), Mean Girls (2004), Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), Just My Luck (2005) and more.
However, like many former child stars in the acting world, she eventually fell prey to the darker side of the entertainment industry as she struggled with substance abuse, DUI's, became embroiled in Hollywood feuds and slowly fell out of the spotlight.
Lindsay Lohan Finds Love and Returns to the Spotlight
Lindsay Lohan married husband Bader Shammas in 2022.
Thankfully, she was able to find her way back to herself after escaping Hollywood and building a new life in Dubai in 2014. There, she would later meet her one-day husband, Bader Shammas.
"Lindsay was treated like a human piñata during her difficult days," a source exclusively told Radar in a resurfaced interview. "Now, she’s healthy and happy and laughing in their faces."
At that point, things were only looking up. After years of keeping their relationship primarily out of the public eye, Lohan and Shammas officially got married in April 2022.
That same year, she launched her movie comeback with her holiday romcom, Falling for Christmas, starring Glee's Chord Overstreet.
Lindsay Lohan Becomes a Mom
Lindsay Lohan welcomed her son, Luai, in 2023.
But her comeback didn't slow down there. The next year, she hit another incredible milestone when she became a mom for the first time, welcoming her son, Luai, in Dubai in July 2023.
Undeterred by her journey into motherhood, she headlined a second new romcom, Irish Wish, in 2024.
In 2025, things got even more exciting when she reunited with movie-mom Jamie Lee Curtis for Freakier Friday, the highly-anticipated sequel to her 2003 classic.
Lindsay Lohan's Journey Into 40
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Lindsay Lohan said she was 'honored' past generations appreciated her work.
Days before her birthday, Lohan reflected on her life and work being so fondly remembered by Millennials and Gen Z.
"I think with that comes pressure always, when I was younger to try and be a certain way, but I think over time and in life you realize you can only be true to yourself, and that has to show through in the end," she told People. "So I feel honored, I guess I would say, in a lot of ways."
As for how she feels about going into a new decade in age, she said it's "great."
"I'm proud to say I'm going to be 40, and I'm of the millennial generation," she added. "And I'm just always evolving, always learning."
