Former wild child Lindsay ‘IT HAS MADE ME STRONGER’

They were Freaky times, but the actress is proud of the woman she is today

- 

At the tender age of 12, she shot to A-list status thanks to her role in the hit movie The Parent Trap.

But any dreams Lindsay Lohan had of graduating from adorable child star to revered Hollywood actress crashed and burned in her twenties when she was rarely out of the headlines for everything from cocaine possession to theft.

Now the Mean Girls star is about to turn 40 - and no one is more relieved than her that those tumultuous, wild-child years are officially behind her.

“I feel a huge sense of gratitude just to have lived through so many different experiences in life,” reflects Lindsay, who hits her birthday on July 2. “I really have seen it all.

“It’s made me such a strong woman. I feel I’ve empowered myself in a lot of ways. I know myself now, at this age, better than ever.”

It’s been four years since Lindsay reintroduced herself to the world after packing up her party life in LA and moving to Dubai.

In the eight years she spent out of the spotlight, she met and married Kuwaiti financier Bader Shammas, 39, and gave birth to their son Luai, who turns three in July.

Her family life in the United Arab Emirates, she admits, is better than anything that came before.