Old David Letterman Interview Of Lindsey Lohan Surfaces As Example Of Bullying

An old David Letterman interview of Lindsey Lohan has recently resurfaced on Twitter, causing outrage and demands for Letterman to apologize years after the fact. The conversation, about how young female stars are abused by the entertainment industry, was sparked by the recently released Britney Spears documentary on Hulu, Framing Britney Spears.

“This Lindsay Lohan interview on David Letterman in 2013 is horrifying to watch now,” the viral clip of the interview was captioned.

In the interview, Lohan is guest starring on Letterman’s show to promote her upcoming movie, Scary Movie 5, just before a court-ordered stay at a rehab clinic. While Lohan tries to keep the conversation focused on her work, Letterman makes the actress visibly uncomfortable by focusing on questions and jokes about her struggles with addiction and upcoming hospitalization.

“I think, to be honest, I’m the happiest when I’m working, and the healthiest,” Lohan explained while trying to maintain the focus of the interview. “We’re here for a movie. Let’s stay on the positive.”

Letterman, however, continued to grill the young actress, leaving her in tears.

Now, eight years later, many millions of Twitter users are revisiting the interview in a new light.

“This clip is horrifying in so many ways but one thing that stuck out to me is it is the perfect example of when women try to politely advocate for themselves in a way that society would hopefully deem “not bitchy” and yet they get steamrolled and ignored,” one user tweeted.

“This is vile on so many levels,” another writes. “The misogyny. The blindsiding. The stigma of addiction & rehab. The hypocrisy of wanting people to recover, but then judging how they choose do so. I hope Lindsay Lohan knows how loved she is. The world has treated her and many others so unfairly.”

Other users, however, had more sympathy for Letterman, pointing out that he may have been well-intentioned in his attempts to make her admit to her mistakes in life.

“Clearly it was a bit,” one reply dismissed the clip’s harsh caption. “I think that if she really felt a type of way would have never agreed to come on the show… I think he was in jest trying to get her to be serious about being sober and getting the help that she needs.”

“Lindsay looks stoned,” another reply comments. “For all you know she was lighting one up back stage in the green room pissing Letterman off. I don’t hear Letterman denigrating her. I hear him putting her on the spot. Admitting your an addict is AA 101. She could have just said ‘yeah, I struggle’.”

However, one user also pointed out that both responses to the viral clip might have ultimately been misguided – moments before Lohan started crying Letterman had showered her with praise, all of which had been cut out.

In the uncut clip, Lohan says that it is Letterman is sweet just moments before that had made her tear up, mean-spirited jokes and questions aside.