THE words could have come straight from the lips of Greta Garbo. Actress, fashion designer, socialite, Tweeter and a victim of a recent jewel heist at her Los Angeles home, Lindsay Lohan just wants to be left alone.
The 23-year-old Hollywood star has just about had enough of the paparazzi for the time being.
And as she took on her biggest role yet – presenting the glamorous F1 Rocks gigs in Singapore to 184 countries – Lindsay admits she’s become used to the constant scrutiny she faces in the US.
“Because I have been dealing with it for so long, I’m pretty numb to everything that gets said and goes on,” she explained.
“I’m not going to say the paparazzi don’t get annoying, when I just want that alone time.”
Lindsay has stepped into the stilettos of Pussycat Dolls beauty Nicole Scherzinger, who pulled out of hosting the F1 Rocks shows amid rumours she had split from Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton a fortnight ago.F1 Rocks boss Paul Morrison considered enlisting Katy Perry andVictoria Beckham before agreeing the deal with Lindsay, who arrived in Singapore earlier this week with her girlfriend, Sam Ronson, who is DJing at the event.
I hung out with Lindsay at the ultra-exclusive VIP gallery in Fort Canning Park. Three nightly concerts kicked off here on Thursday, ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix tomorrow night.
Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill’s band Simple Minds completed last night’s line-up alongside US rock-blues legends ZZ Top, No Doubt and N*E*R*D. Tonight, it’s the turn of Beyonce and the Black Eyed Peas.
From the window of the Fairmount Hotel, you can see the track, now closed to regular traffic, that snakes through the heart of the city.
Wander into the foyer of the Fairmount or the neighbouring Swiss Hotel and you can’t help but bump into drivers Jensen Button and Mark Webber rubbing shoulders with singer Gwen Stefani, ZZ Top and Chinese superstar Jacky Cheung.
Proving that she is more than just a meal ticket for the paparazzi, the good news for Lindsay is that her acting career has notched up a gear.
She has three films in production and has come straight to Singapore from the set of her latest flick, Robert Rodriguez’s shoot-em-up Machete, which stars Robert DeNiro.
Lindsay said: “I finished filming Machete a few days before I came here.
“It was a really good experience. It was a good cast. I have never fired a gun in a film before. They just threw these machine-guns at me and I didn’t really know what to do with them.
“I was scared but it was really exhilarating. It was scary in a nice way and it was good to do something new in a film. I love Robert Rodriguez and DeNiro is quite fantastic.”
Insisting she is not a socialite, Lindsay seems to be busier than ever. She recently signed up with fashion house Emanuel Ungaro as an artistic adviser.
Her first collection will be unveiled on October 4, but she says her fashion work will not conflict with her film career.
The Hollywood bad girl said: “I think you live life to the fullest and learn from your mistakes.
“It’s really important to experience life in every way and to think that you can do anything.
“I think working with Ungaro is more personal for me. It’s kind of more about who I am and what I want to put out there in terms of what people wear and different styles. I don’t think it conflicts with my films.
“I think there’s time for everything and I’m a multi-tasker, so I like it.
“And what I wear in films means a lot to the character and what people take from the character.”
As Formula 1 cars revved up in the background during practice, Lindsay, who starred in 2005′s Herbie: Fully Loaded, a comedy remake about a Volkswagen Beetle on the racing circuit, added: “It’s really nice to be part of F1 Rocks on the first year they are doing it.
“It’s a bunch of amazing performers who I am really good friends with.”
Being in Singapore is giving Lindsay a chance to escape the madness of Los Angeles in the wake of her Hollywood Hills home being broken into last month. Last week, police arrested 18-year-old Nicholas Prugo on suspicion of burglary.
But there have been rumours that she knew Prugo.
“I don’t really want to get into the details of that,” Lindsay said. “That’s for the detectives to do.”
And she also deftly sidesteps the fact that she is the replacement for the heartbroken Pussycat Doll.
Asked what she brings to the party in place of Nicole Sherzinger, Lindsay insisted: “She was set to do a segment in the show so I’m not really stepping into her shoes.
“I am just here to have fun, and style-wise it is all about comfort.”
But she admits F1 Rocks has a feelhead, good factor ahead of tomorrow night’s race. Last year was Singapore’s first grand prix since the Seventies and F1′s first night race. But it has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
It emerged Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jnr had had crashed on the orders of Renault boss Slavio Briatore, allowing team mate Fernando Alonso to move into the lead.
Last week, Renault was found guilty of cheating after Piquet gave evidence to the F1 governing body FIA in return for immunity from prosecution.
Renault have been handed a two-year suspended ban from Formula 1. Alonso was exonerated of any involvement but Briatore has been banned from the sport.
All this goes right over Lindsay’s as she’s the first to admit. “I’d love to learn more about Formula 1 and racing,” she said.
“I actually studied Nascar for almost a year when I was doing Herbie.
“I had to learn all of the details. It was very hot in those cars and it was a lot of fun.”
Promising to check out Scots rockers Simple Minds , she added: “I hadn’t heard of them before, but I will be aware of them after this.
“I’m learning as I go, but I’m kind of looking forward to everything. It’s a new experience. I’ve never been to Singapore before.
“We’re having a lot of fun doing the TV show.
“I think F1 Rocks is a great idea.”
Source: Daily Record