Why we all needed Lindsay Lohan's redemption arc.

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Glassy eyes smeared with mascara, fading fake tan in blotches around her chin and unnaturally blonde hair extensions having seen better days, Lindsay Lohan stares warily down the barrel of the camera, her mouth half-open as if she's in the middle of asking a question. 

It's her first mug shot. She's three weeks past her 21st birthday. After reaching what seemed like the pinnacle of a Hollywood career that had started when she was just 10 years old, Lindsay Lohan was fresh off the high of Mean Girls' cult-like success, and the wheels had fallen off. 

She'd been arrested, charged with DUI, and checked herself into rehab soon after. 

At the time, the public reaction could only be described as one of gleeful schadenfreude. No one questioned why a young woman might be so deep in the throes of addiction, just three weeks after legally being able to drink.

The adults surrounding her (her parents were in the midst of a messy, public divorce) seemingly had done little to intervene in the years prior. 

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In fact, the mug shot kicked off a decade punctuated by extreme paparazzi harassment, gleeful stories about the star's lack of ability to capitalise on her potential, several more rehab stays — and, sadly, several more highly publicised run-ins with the law. 

In each progressing mug shot, Lindsay's face becomes more defiant — a young woman hardening herself against a world that had turned her into a punchline.

The modern witch-hunt. 

The 2000s were a particularly cruel era for young starlets, even by the already-brutal media standards of today. Headlines focused on everything from their cellulite to their mental health diagnoses, speculating on which drugs they were taking, which actors they were dating, and which other similarly-maligned actresses they were supposedly feuding with. 

Their still-changing bodies were taunted and compared to other actresses their age in "who wore it worse" page layouts, then those same magazines would post faux-mournful front covers of their bodies once they succumbed to eating disorders — claiming "friends are worried about how thin she's got."

So when Lindsay Lohan all but disappeared from the public eye for several years, it was with the distinct impression of a hurt animal, retreating to lick her wounds. 

We'd hear occasional bizarre updates: Lindsay's married a millionaire; Lindsay's got a weird accent; Lindsay's living in Ibiza. 

So when, post-COVID, Ms Lohan reappeared in the deliciously cheesy Netflix Christmas special Falling For Christmas, then backed it up with similarly cheesy (but excellent) rom-coms on the streaming platform in the following years (Irish Wish is a masterpiece, and I'll fight each and every member of Rotten Tomatoes for its abysmal rating), she might have expected similarly unkind treatment from the public. 

Instead, her return was met with genuine warmth. 

We've victim-blamed child stars for too long. 

Public opinion has shifted when it comes to former child stars, and there are a few key reasons why. Back in 2017 when #metoo was sweeping the world, the plight of child stars was all but overlooked. We heard from women who were assaulted as adults, but the systemic abuse of children in the industry was sidelined. 

A few years later, and Framing Britney Spears woke us up from a kind of victim-blaming reverie as we realised how abhorrent she'd been treated. Hot on its heels, the explosive documentary Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids' TV unearthed an entirely new level of tinsel town's predatory underbelly. 

Accusations of toxic and unsafe working conditions, inappropriate touching and exploitation on set depicted an industry in which kids were seen as nothing more than commodities. 

"Lindsay Lohan's all grown up, and it seems like we've finally grown up too." Image: Getty.

Amanda Bynes — whose mental health and addiction issues have mirrored Lindsay's over the years — was heavily featured in archived footage throughout the film. 

Then there are the ongoing struggles of Justin Bieber, who has spoken out about the trauma he experienced as a child in the entertainment industry. Aaron Carter, who made sexual abuse allegations before his death at 34, long battled the dysfunctional life his early fame and family had thrust upon him.

One Direction's Liam Payne, according to witnesses who spoke to Rolling Stone, had been yelling "I used to be in a boy band, that's why I'm so f***ed up" moments before falling to death from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.

The mounting evidence is too awful to ignore: child stars have been subjected to horrific trauma, often in plain sight. 

And whether it's the realisation that we, as bystanders, were not only complicit in their exploitation but also treated these people's subsequent downfalls as entertainment value, or whether it's the fact that there is just too much horror in the world, it's as though we've finally agreed to give them the love they needed 20 years ago. 

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Which is why Lindsay Lohan, now a mother, has become a kind of proxy recipient of our collective public repentance. Instead of waiting for her to fail, we're cheering on her every success. 

We'll watch every cheesy rom-com and indulgently smile at every slightly cringe social media post.

In a world full of real-world boogeymen, we've finally stopped pointing the finger at the innocent casualties. Lindsay Lohan's all grown up, and it seems like we've finally grown up too. 

Because in her redemption arc, we've actually found our own. 

Feature image: Getty.