Lindsay Lohan's Net Worth is Hardly A Party
The name “Lindsay Lohan” has become infamous over the years for tales of wild, partying behavior and almost unbelievable spending. It's tragic because Lohan was one of the best child actors of all time and had an early career as an adult actor that promised many big things. She has even made millions of dollars in her life, though her net worth isn't exactly worth celebrating for all her hard work.
So, what exactly is Lindsay Lohan's net worth? Well, any number of “mean girls” are likely to tell you that Lohan has had heavy financial troubles in her life that have taken much of her cash earnings. Her personal troubles don't just extend to monetary problems, either, as she has struggled to keep her career on track for years due to problematic behavior and a personality that seems toxic to many.
However, Lohan's still considerable star power and infamy could help her recover many of her finances and keep herself from falling into more serious debt. This story is a bit different from the normal ones we like to tell because it serves as a cautionary tale.
If you ever get the chance to make as much money as Lindsay Lohan has made in her career, you'll know exactly what not to do with it.
Lindsay Lohan's Many Career Ups And Downs
Lindsay Lohan is one of those lifetime entertainers that started her career at the tender age of three after starting a career with Ford Models. Lohan's natural good looks and amiability were a potent combination, as was her surprisingly mature acting chops. By the age of 10, she was already appearing on soap opera “Another World”, though it was her appearance in “The Parent Trap” that kickstarted her stardom.
Lindsey Lohan in “The Parent Trap”
Image Source: Variety
In “The Parent Trap,” Lohan played twins reunited after years of separation attempting to bring their parents back together. Lohan's dual role mirrored that of Haley Mills in the original and was impressive. Lohan played off herself expertly and created distinct personalities for each of the young twins. It also led to further roles in movies like “Life-Size” and “Get a Club” in 2000 and 2002.
During these early years, Lohan was still a minor and her money was funneled primarily to her parents and managers. As a result, her net worth is not affected by these successes. Starting with the “Freaky Friday” remake, she started making money as an adult. This timing was perfect as her work in “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” and especially 2004's “Mean Girls” earned her big paychecks.
As a now established A-lister, she started releasing albums on “Casablanca Records” as a singer-songwriter and even appeared in surprising roles like “A Prairie Home Companion” and “Chapter 27”. During these early years, Lohan was a media darling. With her stunning good looks and natural sense of humor, she thrived in front of the camera and continued to do great work as a performer.
The Downsides Get Bigger
Little did the world know that this media darling was suffering extremely severe personal demons. Although she wasn't yet 21 by 2006, she was already having troubles with alcohol and drugs on set during the filming of “Georgia Rule.” Her behavior became erratic and hard to predict, as she would occasionally not show up on set or, when she did, behave oddly and inappropriately.
It was during this period that the struggling Lohan found herself in rehab for alcoholism and drug abuse. These behaviors negatively impacted her “Sweetheart” image, and she started losing movie roles. Her court-ordered time in rehab wasn't always successful, as Lohan continued with erratic behavior and poor performances in movies like “Liz & Dick” and “Canyons” in 2012 and 2013.
However, she eventually did come out of this experience as a better person. The documentary series, “Lindsay,” detailed her troubles during this period and helped her create a better revenue stream for herself. Lohan continually showed signs of improving her addictive behaviors and even left rehab in 2015, for the first time in eight years. While her career momentum had been robbed, she wasn't done yet.
Mean Girls
Image source: Cosmopolitan
For example, Lohan transitioned to stage work in London performing in “Speed-the-Plow” in 2014 to 2015 during its one-year run. Lohan also signed a multi-film deal with Netflix to star in many of their made-for-streaming films. These light-hearted and mostly family-oriented films place Lohan on familiar ground, including the first film “Falling For Christmas,” a Christmas-oriented family comedy.
Those close to Lohan claim that she is taking these deals very seriously and hoping to claw her way back not only to artistic relevance but financial strength as well.
With all that said, how much is she worth now? Before discussing that rather distressing fact, it's worth breaking down some of her biggest roles over the year to see just how much money she has made and lost over the years.
Her Career Breakdown Financially
The first film Lohan made as an adult, “Freaky Friday” in 2003, earned her about $550,000. It was a standard fee for a first-time headliner and, when the film was a success, her earnings jumped to $1,000,000 for both “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” and “Mean Girls” in 2004. When the latter film became a surprise hit, Lohan's asking price significantly jumped.
It was during a three-year stretch that Lohan made a vast majority of her money as an actress. Her $7.5 million paychecks for “Herbie Fully Loaded” in 2005, “Just My Luck” in 2006, and “Georgia Rule” in 2007 earned her $22.5 million and seemingly prepared her for a lifetime of big roles. Unfortunately, just five years later, her paychecks had dipped considerably.
For example, her role in 2012's “Liz & Dick” earned her just $300,000, while her brief appearance in “Scary Movie 5” earned her $200,000 in 2013. Her saddest paycheck during this time was in the flop “The Canyons” in 2013, which earned her just $6,480. Only her 2014 documentary “Lindsay” earned her good money, at about $2 million or so, though her recent deal with Netflix is much larger.
All told, Lohan earned about $28 million for her film roles, depending on multiple news sources. However, her lifetime of troubles and rehab problems have whittled her earnings down to much less than $28 million. The exact amount is a little depressing to consider.
Lindsay Lohan's Net Worth is Not What You Might Think
Lindsay Lohan's financial fall from grace isn't one of the biggest of all time, though it is far from minor. For example, pop rapper MC Hammer legendarily blew through $70 million in just five years, including $20 million he didn't even make during his musical career. By comparison, Lohan was relatively restrained.
So, just what is her net worth? About $2 million.
Now, it is important to note that this value is partially inflated by Lohan's recent Netflix paycheck. Before she signed that deal, she was reportedly worth little more than $500,000 or so, depending on which source you believe. How much of a financial loss does this represent?
Well, $500,000 is about 1.7% of $28 million, meaning she has spent about 99% of the money she's earned.
While her future deal with Netflix could result in continued success and paychecks for each film, it's not certain if this will lead to further roles for Lohan elsewhere. While many people would be happy to be worth $1.5 million, for a celebrity who had made far more in her life, this drop is significant and is not the kind of thing that happens without a lot of questionable behavior and bad actions.
So, how did an actress, singer, songwriter, and producer spend that much money? Where were her managers, and why weren't they helping her? The answers to these questions are quite troubling and show an out-of-control personality that simply got her way, time and time again. Taking a deep look at this situation can help you better understand what happened with Lohan as her life spiraled out of control.
Where Did All This Money Go?
In retrospect, multiple mental health professionals have diagnosed Lindsay Lohan with several conditions that may explain her behavior. These include Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. These conditions can cause unpredictable and self-centered behavior, as well as unpredictable and self-destructive actions that may take over a person's life.
It was as she reached adulthood that these conditions likely started to worsen and affect her actions. Lohan started to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol excessively before she reached the legal age to do either of these things. Her romantic life was often a mess centered on one-night stands and abusive relationships. She dated actors, rich business owners, DJs, and was even engaged to marry a Russian millionaire in 2016.
Her impulsive personality saw her not only abusing drugs and dating wildly but also spending money faster than she could earn it. Lohan spent money on vehicles, clothing, drugs, alcohol, and travel. Visits to drug and alcohol rehab also took away from her earnings, as did her struggles with acting and her increasingly smaller paychecks. Her managers seemingly did little to stop her or had no chance but to listen to what she had to say.
Lohan is known to be an incredibly charming person and is very good at getting people to do things they wouldn't normally. It's not hard to imagine her managers not only ignoring these behaviours but doing little to improve them. Even when the money obviously started to dry up, Lohan's unpredictable charm and charisma may have made it easy to gaslight people into letting her do what she wanted and spend what she wanted. However, her biggest problem was related to her taxes and how she continually failed to pay them on time just about every year.
Lindsay's Tax Issues
The staggering thing to consider in this situation is that Lohan was already close to bankruptcy by 2011 when the $1 million paycheck for posing nude in Playboy helped keep her financially afloat for the next few years.
The problem here was that Lohan had a hard tie paying her taxes on time and was allegedly more than $233,000 in arrears in 2012 when the IRS seized her bank accounts to get the money she owed.
Her tax problems, rehab fees, costly spending habits, and suddenly low-paying work all conspired against Lohan and made her blow through $27 million in almost no time. Recent behavior, such as the fact that she lived in Dubai during the pandemic, shows that she still hasn't quite gotten herself under control and may run into financial problems again in the future. If she can convert her Netflix deal into something consistent and long-term, she might come out of this experience okay.
The Lessons To Learn Here
While these net worth articles are usually a lot of fun and give readers a chance to dig into a celebrity's worth, discussing Lindsay Lohan's net worth is not exactly a party. Watching a talented artist self-destruct so publicly is a painful experience that shows a lot of important financial facts.
Don't spend more than you can make and don't assume that you will keep making money forever.
If Lohan had continued making hits and kept making nearly $8 million per movie, maybe her life would be different. Maybe her spending habits are no different than an average A-list celebrity. But when the acting roles dry up and the bills start piling up, these excessive spending habits must be curbed or else it's possible to end up with almost nothing at all to your name.
Though most readers here are not likely going to make as much money as someone like Lindsay Lohan, they can apply these lessons to their life.
Make sure you always have a strong source of income, including passive income, whenever possible.
Balance your spending with your means and do what you can to avoid alienating yourself from employers or other financial sources.
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