Lindsay Lohan Leaves Kelly Ripa Stunned After Revealing One of Her Favorite Things About Living in Dubai

Lindsay Lohan has reclaimed her spot as one of Hollywood‘s most talked-about actresses while promoting her highly anticipated “Freaky Friday” sequel, “Freakier Friday.”

But while she’s once again the toast of Tinseltown, Lohan, 39, has been quick to make clear that she has no plans to make a full-time return to Los Angeles, revealing that she is loving her life in Dubai, where she lives with her husband, Bader Shammas, and their 2-year-old son, Luai.

Lohan, who shot to fame at the tender age of 12 when she made her big-screen debut in “The Parent Trap,” relocated to Dubai in 2014 in a bid to escape what she described as a “stressful” environment in Los Angeles.

And during an appearance on “Live with Kelly and Mark” on July 30, she was quick to reveal the many reasons she loves living in the city with her family—explaining to host Kelly Ripa that the privacy she is afforded there makes her feel so much safer when she’s out and about with her loved ones.

“It’s just far away from Hollywood, and I live a very normal life,” Lohan shared. “There’s no worry of like, I can’t go eat at this place ‘cause someone’s gonna take a picture of my son. And it’s just, I feel very safe.”

The actress then left Ripa open-mouthed in shock when she revealed one of the main reasons why privacy is such a big part of her life in Dubai—explaining that it’s actually illegal to take a photo of someone in a public place without their consent.

“It’s not legal,” Lohan told a stunned Ripa when asked whether there are paparazzi in Dubai. “You can’t take a picture of someone else if you’re in a restaurant. You have to ask the person, which is a big difference from here.”

“That’s incredible,” the TV host responded, as Lohan noted: “Yeah, privacy is key.”

It’s not the first time that Lohan has gushed about the lifestyle in Dubai, having previously explained to “Saturday Night Live” star Chloe Fineman that she still finds it “hard” to be in L.A., particularly when she’s accompanied by her son.

“It’s hard in L.A. Even taking my son to the park in L.A., I get stressed. I’m like, ‘Are there cameras?'” she explained to the comedian in a May interview for Elle.

Although Lohan conceded that New York—where she was born and raised—affords her much more privacy than L.A., she said that Dubai essentially gives her the best of both worlds.

“In New York, there’s no worry; no one bothers us. Everyone has their own thing going on,” she said.

“There’s a different kind of energy in New York. I’d rather have downtime in New York than I would in L.A. But the nice thing about L.A. is, I like space [and you get that here].

“But I’m thinking as I’m saying this, the funny thing is, in Dubai I get all of those things. I get the privacy, I get the peace, I get the space. I don’t have to worry there; I feel safe.”

Although Lohan lives primarily in Dubai with Shammas and their son, she admitted during the interview that they had spent less than half of the past year in their home country because of her work commitments in the U.S.

She also admitted that Dubai might not end up as their permanent home in the future, explaining that she and Shammas, 38, still need to decide where they want their son, who turned 2 this month, to attend school—a choice that might take them away from the country they currently call home.

Though she has some complicated feelings about life in L.A., Lohan said she felt privileged to have filmed “Freakier Friday” in the city before the California wildfires ravaged multiple neighborhoods, destroying the home in which the original movie was shot.

“Now, the film is such an homage to California after the fires, because we shot a lot in the Palisades and in Malibu,” she shared. “Even the house—the original ‘Freaky Friday’ house—unfortunately, is gone. So I think it’ll be a really nice love letter.”

The property where Lohan’s character, Anna Coleman, and her mother, Tess Coleman, played by Curtis, lived was located in the Pacific Palisades, which was devastated by the California wildfires at the start of 2025.

According to records, the prior owner of the “Freaky Friday” house opted to sell the vacant lot on which the property had been located for $4 million in April. The 8,628-square-foot lot had been listed for $4.3 million.

The listing noted that the land was once home to a 4,891-square-foot, two-story family home. The buyer would have an opportunity to “build a larger three-level home with a habitable finished basement” on the same plot, it said.

“A unique opportunity to stake your claim in one of the most celebrated neighborhoods in Pacific Palisades,” the listing said. “Be part of the Renaissance of the Huntington!”

As for Lohan’s own dwelling in Dubai, where she is raising her son, she has rarely shared images of the property in a bid to safeguard its location.

While she was living in Los Angeles, the actress—who was raised on Long Island—spent several years residing in hotel rooms, including the iconic Chateau Marmont, where she is understood to have stayed for multiple months while filming the movie “Liz & Dick.”

She also rented a sprawling Beverly Hills property for $8,000 a month, before she relocated to Dubai full time.

However, before Lohan hit the big time, she lived on Long Island with her mother, Dina, and her siblings Ali, Michael Jr., and Dakota.

In 2018, the property in which the actress was raised was auctioned off after it was foreclosed upon, when her mother defaulted on a $1.3 million loan she had taken out on the property, which was purchased in 2004 for $650,000.

JPMorgan Chase Bank sued Dina for defaulting on the loan in 2014, but she was able to hold off foreclosure and keep the home until the bank went back to court in February 2016 to restart foreclosure proceedings.