The Mean Girls star was ordered to return to the Betty Ford treatment centre in Rancho Mirage, California, until January 3.
“You are an addict. I hope you know that. I think you have to change your lifestyle,” Judge Elden Fox told Lohan during a 40-minute court hearing in Beverly Hills.
The actress burst into tears after learning she was not returning to prison and whispered “thank you” to the judge.
Lohan, 24, arrived at court just after 8am yesterday morning, to hear her fate after she failed a mandatory drug test and violated the terms of her probation from a Driving Under The Influence case.
Wearing blue jeans, a black blazer and aviator sunglasses, the actress walked into the building with her lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley. Lohan’s parents, Dina and Michael, sat on opposite sides of the courtroom as the lawyers debated the film star’s punishment.