A JUDGE on Friday (October 22) ordered troubled US starlet Lindsay Lohan to complete a three-month course in rehab, saying she can avoid jail if she remains drug-free until next February.
The 24-year-old actress has been staying at the renowned Betty Ford clinic near Palm Springs since she was briefly jailed last month for failing a court-ordered drug test.
On Friday, Judge Elden Fox of the Beverly Hills Superior Court told her she could avoid jail as long as she remained drug and alcohol free by her next scheduled hearing on February 25.
She was ordered to stay at the Betty Ford clinic until January 3, and undergo regular drugs tests – and the judge said any violation would send her to jail for 180 days.
“I’m not going to be manipulated,” Fox said.
“You are an addict. I think you have to change your lifestyle,” Fox added, warning that if she did not remain drug-free she would “destroy what is a very lucrative career and profession.”
“You’re staying there past the New Year – there’s a reason for that,” the judge added, prompting a smile from Lohan and laughter in the courtroom.
Lohan was sentenced on July 6 to serve 90 days in jail and another 90 days in rehab for violating her probation in a drunk-driving case. But due to jail overcrowding, she served just 13 days before being freed to the detox facility.
She was jailed again on September 25, but granted bail after only 15 hours behind bars.
A queen of Hollywood nights and a favorite target of the paparazzi, the former Disney child star was once considered one of the most promising actresses of her generation.
But Lohan’s career has dipped many times since 2005 amid legal woes, stops in rehab and cinematic flops.
In 2007, she spent just 84 minutes in jail after police arrested her twice for cocaine possession while driving – in one instance crashing her Mercedes-Benz into a tree.
In 2008 the Parent Trap star received two Razzie Awards, the satirical prizes presented to Hollywood’s worst acting performances.
