Lindsay goes blonde and loses a few pounds in sultry shoot

The actress, sporting blonde locks and a slender frame, stars in a sultry new shoot for edgy style magazine Paper, where she defends her hard-partying, law-infringing, rehab-hopping past, declaring: "I am what I am."

The 21-year-old puts her troubled year down to her family woes – and the bright lights of Hollywood.

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She told the publication: "I had a lot going on in my life and that was a way of hiding from it.

"I hadn't seen my dad; I had a lot of work stress 'cause I was constantly working and never took time to stop."

"Everything was go-go-go, and the easiest thing was to run away from it, going out and drinking at night."

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She adds, "But I didn't realize it was getting in the way of my work – what I've worked for my whole life."

But her multiple stints in rehab has changed all of that, she insists.

"There's not really much else to do when you're sitting in a treatment center. It's like, 'Why am I here? Let's think.' "

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Now, after a series of unsuccessful big screen releases including Georgia Rule and I Know Who Killed Me, she's focused on getting her career back on track.

She says: "Right now I just want to find a great script, a great role."

"I was so used to working and working and working, and for a good few months there was nothing for me to do. Now I know what it's like to be an out-of-work actor, and how much it scares me."