In this outtake from our “Reality Bites” feature, Boca resident Michael Lohan, who appeared on “Celebrity Rehab” with Dr. Drew, discusses daughter Lindsay, battling demons and much more:
On Lindsay:“She’s doing better now than she’s been in eight years. … I think part of it is the realization that this is it. It’s do or die. … Holding yourself accountable is huge. It’s saying to yourself, I’m done sitting in court, I’m done seeing myself on TV in that kind of position. Just like it did for me, seeing myself in handcuffs, mugshots. … It’s heartbreaking to see that as a parent. I want to be there, instead of her. Put me through it. Let me go through the addiction, the jail, the arrest. Anything to put her in a good place.”
On the 2005 incident that led to his sobriety: “Lindsay was having problems in New Orleans when she was shooting the [2006] movie, ‘Just My Luck.’ I found out who the person was involved in her demise at that point, and I literally wanted to go down and kill that person. Literally. It was Feb. 23, 2005. I went to my house and got a gun. My cousin has a private plane; I told him I had to get to New Orleans because there was an emergency with Lindsay. I had three drinks—Irish coffees. There is no reason I should have driven off a straight road into a telephone pole doing 80 mph.
“God knew I was going [to New Orleans] to take someone’s life. I was determined. He took my life and gave it back to me to show me, ‘Hey, listen, I’m the one who gives and takes life. Not you. I’m giving you another chance, but this time you better do it right.’ So I turned my life over.”
On his relationship with his father: “Dr. Drew changed my life. He addressed the trauma, my inner child, the things that I had never addressed which had affected me. My father was never physically abusive, but he was an alcoholic and he was verbally abusive. He was a hard-working guy, and I loved him to death, but there also was a lot of animosity.
“The last seven years of his life, he fought three different cancers until stomach cancer got him. We became so close during that time. … He died before my appearance on ‘Celebrity Rehab.’ Dr. Drew made me see that it wasn’t my issues with my ex-wife that made me drink and use. It was things from my childhood.”
