NEWSLindsay Lohan Has A "Disease" Says Dad Michael
Jul. 8 2010, Published 1:30 p.m. ET
Lindsay Lohan's estranged father Michael Lohan insists his daughter needs rehab, not jail, to treat her "disease."
"It's not about incarceration, it's about rehabilitation — and you don't get rehabilitated in jail, trust me," Michael told E! News last night. "She's so glossed over with all this medication she's on. She'll never be right until she stops it."
Michael, a controversial figure with a troubled past of his own, doesn't pull his punches: "I'll say it to her face: 'You're a liar, it's your addiction, it's your disease and I know it's not you, but you're a liar — stop,' " Michael says.
"Maybe chronologically she's 24. But believe me, emotionally she's no older than 14 or 15 — and I mean that."
Rather than serve jail time before starting the 90 day inpatient rehab treatment, Michael says Lindsay should get treatment straight away.
"She actually believes that the medication she's on is something she needs. We can all see that and we know that. She's got a disease. You don't put a person in jail for that. Throw her into a rehab for as long as you want... six months, longer.
"In court, they even said the only thing she tested positive for were prescription drugs," says Michael. "What's killing people now? What killed Heath Ledger? What killed Adam Goldstein? Brittany Murphy? Prescription drugs."
Michael has a difficult relationship with Lindsay, with the two currently not on speaking terms, but he says one of the reasons Lindsay can't seem to get help is because she has no support system.
"The people in the courtroom yesterday...there was no emotion when she got sentenced," he says. "I couldn't believe it. It was sickening to see it. Her two so-called friends in front of me were just whispering in each other's ears."
Was Lindsay's tearful outburst genuine? "The tears were real. That wasn't Lindsay acting, not when she knew she was going to jail...this time it was for real."
"Maybe she needs to be scared," he continues. "Maybe she needs to get a taste of it. She's surrounded herself with dark people and she's in a dark place and she needs to get out of it. The next dark place she's going to be in is a jail cell.
"There is so much more behind this that I can't even talk about, that she talked to me about, that happened when she was in the wrong state of mind that literally would kill any father to hear and not be able to do anything about."
