Lohan: 'I made some dreadful mistakes'

(PEOPLE.com) -- In a new interview, Lindsay Lohan admits she feared for her life while abusing substances including cocaine to deal with family problems -- but has learned to embrace life instead of drugs since her hellish days in 2007.

"I tried to mask my problems with alcohol, cocaine and mind-altering substances," the actress, 23, told the British newspaper The Sun.

"Now I'm in a place where I don't need to use anything and I can feel emotions because I choose to," she said.

Lohan gives a blow-by-blow account of 2007, her annus horribilis, when she was arrested for drunk driving twice and cocaine possession and went to rehab three times. The underlying cause of her erratic behavior, she says now, was her father Michael's airing the family's dirty laundry in public.

"That's when I hit rock bottom," she said. "I abused substances too much, and it wasn't the answer to my problems. People need to know that."

Tub overflowed

Lohan first checked into rehab in January 2007, after taking the sleeping pill Ambien and passing out while running a bath at a hotel.

She woke up to find the tub overflowing on her. "I was so scared," she said. "I called my therapist and said, 'Can I just go somewhere for a month? I'm around bad people and I need to take care of myself.' "

She was arrested that May for drunk driving in an incident she now calls "stupid and childish," and again in July, when police discovered cocaine in her purse.

"I was only aware of cocaine because of my dad," Lohan said. "I was terrified of it. But I tried it because I was stubborn, stupid, and wanted to see what it was like."

After each of those incidents, she did another stint in rehab.

Therapist every other week

These days, Lohan said she sees a therapist every two weeks and attends weekly alcohol education lessons. "I'm allowed to drink now but I know my limits," she maintained.

She hopes her story will resonate with other young people.

"I learned from my mistakes, and I'm now healthy and happier," she said. "I've made some dreadful mistakes but learned from them -- that has probably saved my life."

See original article at PEOPLE.com.