REUTERS

TROUBLED actress Lindsay Lohan says she is putting her bad girl image behind her and starting a fresh chapter in life, getting back to acting after recent years of personal turmoil that included arrests and stints in jail.

The actress, 25, who is on probation from a string of legal troubles including drunk driving, drug possession and theft, has recently impressed court officials with good behaviour and seemed eager to continue on a straight-and-narrow path.

Lohan, who became a fixture on the Hollywood nightlife scene as a young actress told Matt Lauer of NBC’s Today news show that parties were “not my thing anymore” and she was more comfortable being a “homebody.” “I went out, actually, a few months ago with a friend. And I was so uncomfortable. Not because I felt tempted, just because it was just the same thing that it always was before. And it just wasn’t fun for me. I’ve become more of a homebody.

And I like that,” the actress said in excerpts of the interview that were released on Tuesday.

Lohan rose to fame as a likeable child star in Disney movies such as The Parent Trap and comedies including Freaky Friday, but has been in and out of jail and rehab since 2007 when she was arrested for drunk driving and drug possession.

She currently is serving courtordered community service at the Los Angeles County morgue as part of her probation, due to be completed at the end of March, after she admitted stealing a gold necklace from a California jewellery store in January 2011.

Lohan has expressed measures of regret before only to find herself back in trouble afterward.

In an April 2011 interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, she told the host: “I have made a lot of mistakes and I recognised that, but I am in the clear now,” and in September 2010, after failing a drug test, she tweeted, “I am working hard to overcome it and am taking positive steps forward everyday.” Speaking to Lauer, the Mean Girls actress admitted to being in denial over her issues, saying it was “a scary thing” to express to people.

“I wasn’t as comfortable with myself then ... I think it was a fear factor that I had about what was really going on.

And, you know, I had to get that wakeup call,” said Lohan.

But 2012 could see a fresh start for the actress, who is set to host US sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live on March 3 and is also in line to be cast as screen icon Elizabeth Taylor in an upcoming film, a welcome change after being dropped from projects in recent years.

The actress said she wanted to use the opportunities to “do what I’m supposed to,” adding she will “not let anyone down.” “I could see where it could be scary for people to invest in me. And I don’t want people to have that reason to be scared anymore,” said Lohan.