Actress Lindsay Lohan continued to throw a spotlight on the Syrian refugee crisis Monday, telling the panelists on the daytime discussion show “The View” how she came to advocate for those displaced by that nation’s civil war.
“I was in Turkey — I was there for a work thing — and I said, Y’know what? I’m in such a different place in my life and head space and I have the time now where I can go and do some good and actually get on the ground and see what’s happening and draw attention to it in a positive way to bring people awareness,” the 30-year-old said. Since last summer, she has visited Syrian refugees in Istanbul and in the province of Gaziantep.
“I would cry right away, right off the bat,” she responded when co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked what it was like to first meet with refugee children, who are among the 4.8 million Syrians who have fled the six-year war. “You just see that they have this light inside of them,” Lohan said. “And seeing a new face and somebody willing to kind of teach them and sit with them and bringing attention to other people coming to do that . . .”
Lohan, who now lives in London and Dubai, touched on her former wild-child ways in Los Angeles saying, “Everything moves so fast when you’re in the [entertainment] industry. And people grow up so quickly . . . And I think you have to just always remember to slow down and just really sit and look at what you have and where you want to go with that.” She added, “My mother would always tell me to come home and I never listened. I should’ve come home to New York but I was staying in L.A. You just to have really take your time with things and find what makes you happy at the end of the day. It’s not always the materialistic things that are going to be there for you in the end.”
Saying she’s found peace through transcendental meditation, the “Mean Girls” star “made a mind map when I turned 30 . . . of what I wanted in the next 10 years spiritually — what feeds me, what keeps me humble here, who do I want to help, what do I want to do with that help. And how can I stay continuously doing those things. I want to make my own movies, I don’t want to have to answer to anyone. So just focus, stay focused and really surround yourself with good people.”
