Troubled actress Lindsay Lohan is being defended by an author who once tutored her.
Author Andrea Dana said that she feels the need to speak out about the actress when people have made negative comments about Lohan's recent problems.
Last month, Lohan reached a plea deal on misdemeanour drunk driving and cocaine charges. As a result, Lohan will spend one day in jail and serve 10 days of community service.
Despite this and the other several rumours that have swirled around the 21-year old actress for her partying and drug use, Dana feels an affinity towards Lohan.
"I always want to stand up and say 'No, that's not true' or ... 'Give her a break,'" Dana told CTV's Canada AM.
Dana met Lohan when the actress was 17 on the set of her breakthrough 2004 film "Mean Girls." As well as being as her tutor, Dana was Lohan's temporary guardian. Dana described the young actress as a good student who was very excited about her career at the time.
"She was sort of ruling the roost on the set a bit," Dana said. "She was great when I first met her. She was a lot of fun and we had a great time together."
Dana has tutored many actors on movies such as "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," "The Pacifier" and "The Grudge 2."
Dana mined the experiences of her on-set tutoring for her semi-fictional novel "StarSitter."
The novel follows Grace Daniels who is thrust from her day job as an interior designer into "starsitting" temperamental Hollywood starlet Maddy Malone.
The book delves into drugs, drunk driving, eating disorders and other pitfalls that can affect many young Hollywood stars. Given the insight Dana has gleaned from her on-set experiences she feels Lohan's troubles may stem from a number of factors.
Dana says a stable and healthy family life and whether a child is famous or not is essential. However, she indicated the pressure Lohan is under definitely plays a part in the equation.
"She's been supporting her family financially for many years...ever since she got that first million," Dana said. "For ... a 17- or 18-year-old kid to be supporting a family of six is a lot of stress in itself."
She is concerned at Lohan's 'downward slide' and feels the pressure to support her family while trying to be a normal teenager likely exacerbated Lohan's problems.
"I think Hollywood hyped her up so quickly and gave her so much power and so much money," Dana said. "She was always everywhere and always in the news...Of course something was going to happen, like everyone was just sort of waiting for some sort of fall."
