Lindsay Lohan and family safe in Dubai following Iranian airstrike – The Mercury News

“Mean Girls” star Lindsay Lohan, a resident of Dubai since 2014, was reported safe on Monday with her family in the capital of the United Arab Emirates as it and other areas in the Persian Gulf have become victims of Iranian missile and drone attacks after the United States and Israel attacked Iran.

Sources familiar with the situation told TMZ that Lohan, her husband Bader Shammas and their son Luai were safe, although the Iranian attack left residents and travelers in the usually glittering, bustling city gripped by “fear and uncertainty,” as reported by the Independent. Dubai is known as the business and tourism capital of the Middle East with amazing, high-rise buildings, rising in the middle of the desert and luxury hotels housing and residences of the super rich.

The UAE Ministry of Defense told The Independent on Sunday that 165 ballistic missiles, two cruise missiles and 541 drones had been launched from Iran towards the country. Three people died and 58 were injured, authorities said. In an updated New York Times report on Monday, the Defense Department said it had successfully intercepted nine missiles, six cruise missiles and 148 drones in the previous day.

Iran’s strikes quickly undermined the UAE’s image as a safe haven in the volatile Middle East, the New York Times reported. In Dubai, five-star hotels burned, explosions shattered windows in towers and the international airport was damaged, injuring four people.

A country caught in the middle of war is not the image of the emirate that Lohan presented to the world in the new issue of Vogue Arabia, which was published two days before the United States and Israel launched their attack on Iran.

The 39-year-old actress and singer wore designer clothes as she posed for photos on the helipad of the landmark Burj Al Arab hotel, with the city, the desert and the waters of the Persian Gulf stretching out behind her. He said he found a “calm” life in Dubai, following the limelight of Hollywood.

Lohan was a former child star who became a pop culture phenomenon, turning heads with “The Parent Trap,” “Freaky Friday” and “Mean Girls.” But his personal and professional life fell apart amid legal troubles and reports of partying, drug abuse and dishonest behavior. Vogue Arabia said she found herself in the “toxic vortex” of being a fun-loving, beautiful and successful young woman in the early 2000s, a time of “powerful and often demeaning celebrity shaming.”

Lohan moved to Dubai in 2014 and met her Kuwaiti financier husband there. They welcomed their son in 2023, with Lohan telling Vogue Arabia that they hope to expand their family.

“Being in Dubai is a staple,” Lohan told the publication. I just get to spend time with my family. The city gives me the feeling of having something very important.

Lohan also said that she enjoys the feeling of privacy in Dubai, where there is a noticeable lack of paparazzi, especially around her child. “That’s a very good spirit, you have to not think too much about everything you do every second,” he said.

But a few days after Lohan gave this impression of calm in Vogue Arabia, the city found itself under siege.

“I think everyone was caught off guard in the city, because obviously Iran was targeting the bases and the missiles were flying over us,” JS Anand, founder and CEO of Leva Hotels, told The Independent. “Sometimes they were blocked, so there was a lot of noise, and some areas were hit. So obviously that led to flight cancellations and a lot of people not being sure about their flights.”

An emergency message said “loads of missiles” were coming in, Anand said. “Everyone came to the reception area and downstairs, worried about what would happen, so we had to take care of them. Most of them have extended their time because there are no planes and no certainty of when the airport will open.”

CNN reported on Sunday that Dubai has become a “ghost city.” Winter is usually the peak tourist season in Dubai and the city’s beaches, shopping malls and hotel restaurants are often crowded with tourists and wealthy locals. Instead, the highways are empty, as are neighboring streets that are often packed late into the evening, CNN said.