Happy 25th Birthday, Lindsay Lohan

By Christine Fenno Posted Jul 2nd 2011 02:31PM

Lindsay Lohan turns 25 years old today, and what a year she's had. Make that: What a 25 years she's had. Right now, she's free to celebrate wherever she likes, since her house arrest ended on June 29 (her first night out already triggered a paparazzi frenzy).

A year ago, on her last birthday, LiLo could hardly have predicted the legal sagas that would unfold in the months ahead.

Back in July 2010, just a few days after turning 24, she was sentenced to 90 days in jail, followed by 90 days in rehab, for probation violation stemming from her 2007 DUI. (Lohan's profane manicure made headlines during that court appearance.) She moved into a sober living facility as the start of her jail stint loomed.

She wasn't behind bars long: Booked into jail in handcuffs on July 20, 2010, Lohan was released less than two weeks later and ordered to begin rehab at UCLA Medical Center. But she only served a fraction of that sentence as well, completing treatment in just 23 days. Less than a month later, she was headed back to court, tweeting, "Regrettably, I did in fact fail my most recent drug test..."

She was booked into jail again on Sept. 24, 2010, but a judge overturned the decision, and she left jail the same day when she was granted $300,000 bail. That same month, she settled a lawsuit she'd filed against E-Trade over a commercial in which a baby named "Lindsay" was called a "milkaholic."

Days after getting bailed out of jail, Lohan entered rehab at Betty Ford. In late October, she was ordered to remain in rehab until Jan. 3, 2011. While she was in treatment, 'Inferno' director Matthew Wilder announced Lohan would no longer star in his Linda Lovelace biopic.

In December 2010, less than a month before her release from rehab, Lohan got into a scuffle with Betty Ford staff member Dawn Holland (who was eventually fired for talking to the media, and withdrew her request to press charges).

While she walked out of rehab on schedule, Lohan soon walked right into trouble again when a Venice, Calif., jewelry store accused her in January of stealing a necklace, claiming they had surveillance video of the actress sneaking out of the shop wearing their merchandise. On Feb. 9, Lohan was charged with felony grand theft and pleaded not guilty.

On March 10, 2011, her ninth court appearance in ten months, Lohan was given two weeks to choose between a plea deal or a trial; she soon rejected a plea bargain.

In late April, her theft charge was reduced to a misdemeanor -- she pleaded no contest -- but the actress was given 120 days in jail and 480 hours of community service for probation violation (for being charged with theft in the first place). She posted bail and left the detention center within hours, and due to overcrowding, her sentence turned into house arrest.

During her house arrest, she shot a commercial and hosted a roof party, and then news broke in June that Lohan had tested positive for alcohol. But she was quickly let off the hook on a technicality (she was only supposed to be tested for drugs).

Could the troubled starlet's quarter-century birthday finally mark the beginning of the end of her legal woes? Lohan surely hopes that this year's theme, instead of jail and rehab, will be her long-anticipated career comeback, as she prepares for her role in the John Travolta movie 'Gotti: Three Generations'.

Tags: lindsay lohan