NEWSThe Story Behind Lindsay's Secret Sister
July 1 2008, Published 5:00 a.m. ET
The Lohan family has been accused of pulling stunts for publicity in the past, but nobody could have imagined the latest batch of real-life drama that this week hit the family like a ton of bricks-- that estranged patriarch Michael Lohan has a secret daughter with another woman!
hat Lindsay Lohan had a sister she never knew existed -- a child her dad fathered 13 years ago while married to now ex-wife Dina Lohan.
"We are shocked," Dina, 45, who is mother to Lindsay, 22,Michael Jr., 20, Ali, 14 and Cody, 11, told OK! at Lily Pond nightclub in East Hampton in NY.
Indeed, hours after the news broke Michael, 48, told OK!, "I haven't spoken to Lindsay or my other kids about it yet. When I get home to New York, I'll discuss it with my kids. I love them. I'm sorry for them finding out like this."
Now the mother of this little known teenager -- whose name is Ashley -- is speaking out about her ordeal. Kristi Kaufmann, who now lives in Montana with her husband and daughter, says she went public with the news after trying for over a decade to get Michael to live up to his obligations as a dad.
"Many times I offered to do this privately so the other Lohan kids wouldn't be hurt," Kristi told OK!. "But Michael would not live up to his obligations."
Kristi says she met Lohan at dinner with a mutal friend in the 1980's. Years later, the two met up again in 1994 and began an affair.
"It went on for about 4 weeks," she says. "He told me he was separated from Dina. He told me about Lindsay's Jell-O commerical. He took me to meet his parents. We were in love."
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But after a hot and heavy month, Kristi says Michael dropped her and disappeared. Weeks later she discovered she was pregnant. She tracked him down and told him about the baby but he picked up and left and she stopped hearing from him.
Over the years, she says she tried to get in touch with Michael in the hope that he would recognize Ashley,13, as his daughter, and finally received a phone call from him during his time in jail where Kristi says Michael finally admitted, "I always knew she was mine."
Michael has written several letters to Ashley over the years, but the two have still not met.
In a letter written by Michael in 2005 after seeing photos of Ashley he writes, "Ashley is beginning to look a lot like Linds with a mix of Cody believe it or not." In another he tells her to "Just call me Daddy."
As for Ashley's half-sister Lindsay, a friend tells OK! that the actress is taking the news very hard.
"This is a very hard time for Lindsay," the pal says. "Obviously something like this isn't easy to deal with."
For the entire scoop on Lindsay's secret sister,including never-before-seen photos, pick up the new OK! — on sale everywhere Wednesday!
