Lindsay Lohan feared drugs would kill her

The 23-year-old actress – who has an on/off relationship with DJ Samantha Ronson – used alcohol and illegal substances to ease the pain of her personal problems, and claims the situation worsened when her father Michael Lohan started giving interviews about her in 2007.

She said: "When my father was going public, that's when I hit rock bottom. I abused substances too much and it wasn't the answer to my problems.

"I tried to mask my problems with alcohol, cocaine, and mind-altering substances. Now I'm in a place where I don't need to use anything and I feel emotions because I choose to.

"I never want to be close to losing everything I worked for and aspired to have my whole life. I've made some dreadful mistakes but learned from them – that has probably saved my life."

The 'Mean Girls' actress got to know about cocaine because of her drug user father, and despite witnessing his descent into addiction she still tried the substance.

She added in an interview with The Sun newspaper: "I was only aware of cocaine because of my dad. I was terrified of it. But I tried it because I was stubborn, stupid and wanted to see what it was like.

"It's not something I ever want to do again. It made me feel like s**t. It became uninteresting to me. I'm hyper anyway and I have that kind of personality, so I don't need something like that."

Speaking about the first of her three stints in rehab, Lindsay admitted she requested treatment after collapsing in her bathroom.

She said: "The first time I checked myself in because I had taken Ambien. It's a sleeping aid but it makes you hallucinate.

"I'd run a bath and fallen asleep on the floor and it overflowed. When I woke up, I was so scared I called my therapist and said, 'Can I just go somewhere for a month? I'm around bad people and I need to take care of myself.' I was terrified, so I put my name in."