By: Kate French Source

It was Kate French, the actress who played her, who confirmed that she was indeed based on the Lohan (and not just slightly, either); you didn’t make it up, Riese! Kate said Angela Robinson based it on the time she worked with her on Herbie, so when Lohan was 17/18. She noted that the closet love scene, shot in 2007, was of course a joke about LiLo not being out at that point.

You might also recall that Lohan and Ronson used to go to Japan a lot when Lohan was still closeted back in ’07. That comment was actually pretty sad, as much as it came across as ridiculous and airy-fairy to some people; it was about how they actually felt safer being out overseas where it’s not actually that accepted, versus home in the US, cause that’s where the pressure was and where she really felt she couldn’t be g*y because it would make people angry. And it’s easy to misremember…but it DID make people angry. To the point that in 2017 she expressed how judged and hated she felt.

For me the saddest thing of all is that it got right something that to me will forever be regrettable; it doesn’t matter what you think of Lohan as a person. What it got so right is that, ultimately, her being open about being g*y was threatening; her unabashed love for a woman challenged the heterosexist expectations of not only straight people but some gay men, too. The show predicted that and it was definitely right. I highly recommend reading (or re-reading) Lisa Foad’s article on Xtra (Google ‘Lisa Foad + media monsters’), in which she writes, in part: ‘And the verdict is in the obituary leak: Lohan’s body is alienating because it’s unknowable; it’s misfit and perverse — it has no place. Mainstream culture wants a Lohan it can manage; until then, it would like to lay this body to rest.’

As someone (can’t remember who, apologies) pointed out in the 507 recap you did, Niki was an interesting case in that she actually didn’t care who knew she was gay. The constant association of her closeted status with her character rarely reflected her own feelings; it was mostly people projecting fear (about sex symbol expectations, homophobia and fears about a loss of money) onto her.

‘Mainstream culture wants a Lohan it can manage’ – Lisa Foad
For me, what the premiere episode and the whole storyline was about was homophobia as a tool of control. Fitting, then, that it was alongside Tasha’s storyline. Being homophobic was a way to exert control over Lohan and unfortunately the media landscape of the time facilitated and encouraged such attitudes. The message she ultimately got was: “We don’t care if this makes you happy. You need to be with men cause this being with a woman thing makes us uncomfortable.” Denying her a chance to have that same-sex love was a devastating act of control which had a certain kind of finality attached to it; LiLo said in an interview with Howard Stern two years ago that she felt so judged and hated (you can listen to it on YouTube). I imagine it is unlikely, given the fear she attaches to that time that she will ever ‘try’ that again. It must suck to know that if you had only been born five years later, and not been 20 in 2007, things would’ve been very different. She deserves kudos for withstanding the onslaught she did for as long as she did (and a sidenote I know it was a messy relationship and don’t defend that behaviour at all). There is no doubt in my mind that in absorbing all that, Lohan and Ronson both made it easier for those who would – and did – come out after them (Ellen Page, KStew, etc.).