Michael Lohan: ‘I’m Not Going To Let My Daughter Die’

Between a close encounter with a cactus and an unknown white powder photographed in her shoes, Lindsay Lohan has been having a rough time in the media this month – and her father, Michael Lohan, defended the star to Access Hollywood.

“It was less then a week ago when she fell into the cactus,” Michael said. “People twisted that again. What person in high heels, shielding her face from paparazzi, isn’t going to trip?”

He also offered an explanation for the powder, which Lindsay herself claimed on Twitter was baby powder – not, as some guessed, cocaine, a drug the star pleaded guilty to using in 2007.

“I’m not making any excuses for her, but that was a situation – like this powder thing. That’s talcum powder, Women put talcum powder in their shoes,” Michael said.

However, he also told Access that he wouldn’t defend Lindsay’s alleged mistakes.

“What’s going on with her personal life and drug use and prescription drugs and other antics that are going on, I’m not going to stand for it,” he said. “I’m not going to let my daughter die.”

Some media outlets – including Access – have prepared obituaries for Lindsay should her behavior reach a tragic end, news that came as a surprise to Michael.

“It’s the first I heard of it,” he said. “I don’t even want to think about that. Do I think about it, her dying from the drugs? You have to. But for an obituary to be prepared, how sick is that? Are they taking bets in Vegas on it, too?”

Michael added that he was still in touch with Lindsay.

“When Lindsay fell into the cactus, she texted me and… she said, ‘Daddy, I need security,’ so I made a phone call to one of the best security experts in the country. I called Dina [Lohan], I let Lindsay know, everything was all set in place, and Dina never responded,” Michael said, saying it was his divorce from and frosty relationship with Dina, Lindsay’s mom, that had set off Lindsay’s downward spiral. “From the point Dina and I got divorced, everything went downhill for Lindsay. Her career, her emotional state and everything.”

The celebrity dad went as far as to release audio tapes of his conversations with Lindsay last year, an action he now calls a mistake.

“I’ve spoken out, I have betrayed her by releasing the tape and I know that was wrong, but I was trying to get her to understand what it was like for me to be in bed, at 2 o’clock in the morning and get a phone call for the umpteenth time,” he said. “What is she doing at 3, 4, 5 in the morning, Twittering, talking about Versace shoes? Is that what a normal person does?”