In Light Of Lindsay

My birthday twin and I are turning 39.

Everyone is talking about the Lohanissance — Lindsay Lohan of 2000s teen stardom is making a comeback after many years of speaking in ethnically ambiguous accents, clubbing in Mykonos, and, idk, living her life, I guess. Acting is a funny career because the public feels entitled to give you annual reviews whenever they see you working or not working. Acting — a career whose success is famously based on sheer hard work and talent alone.

Now that she IS working more, doing Netflix rom-coms, a Freaky Friday sequel (which I am personally very stoked for), Old Navy adverts, etc, she is back under public scrutiny. We’re all looking back at the Y2K era with a bit of sheepish horror at how the public treated women celebrities with such callousness. I recently listened to the Girl On Girl audiobook by Sophie Gilbert, and it’s thought-provoking (and bleak) dissection of how pop culture, porn, war, and technology created an era of wholesale hostility towards women and feminity.

So, I am not surprised that Lindsay, who was a child actor growing up in the Hollywood pressure machine back then, had a decade-long crash out. She deserves to! (Also, I don’t think it was that bad, probably. Frankly, it is none of my business.)

Naturally, girl is catching up quickly to the media standards of stardom now, with some notable modifications— nothing out of the ordinary for the starring class.

lindsaylohan

A post shared by @lindsaylohan

And maybe because we grew up watching her grow up, maybe it’s because she’s been photographed in unflattering lighting too many times, but the People demand to know what she’s had done. She has this to say in ELLE:

OK, like to be fair, I don’t think I have met anyone who understands how skin works when they say stuff like this. And most of the people who get asked this are very beautiful people with already very nice skin. The question was about her skin secrets, which I suppose could easily be interpreted as “what is your skincare routine” and not “what aesthetic procedures have you had done to your face.”

Everyone is baiting her to just fess up to her cosmetic procedures. The culture will not tolerate juice. I care less and less about what people in the limelight do to their faces. I assume it’s something. And even if it wasn’t, hair and makeup artists exist, so looking presentable always requires a Something.

MY personal preoccupation with Lindsay Lohan has to do with the fact that she’s my birthday twin (Fraternal). We were both born July 2, 1986 in New York (she in the Bronx, me in Manhattan).