Lindsay's Parents Reach Settlement

Mon., Dec. 12, 2005 4:15 PM PST by Sarah Hall

In an anticlimactic close unworthy of its own pop ballad, Lindsay Lohan's parents have reached a settlement in their bitter divorce proceedings.

Dina and Michael Lohan came to an agreement in their divorce battle Monday, the same day their trial was scheduled to resume, attorneys for both sides said.

"Dina and the children are delighted that this chapter in their lives is finally over," Dina Lohan's attorney, Robert S. Cohen, told People magazine. "And it is over."

Terms of the settlement were confidential, but both parties were said to be satisfied.

During the most heated portion of the divorce trial, Dina Lohan sued her estranged husband for $1 million in damages and full custody of their three minor children, after accusing Michael Lohan of abuse and philandering ways.

In return, Michael Lohan, who is currently serving time for attempted assault and other misdeeds, sued his former wife for half of the 15 percent of Lindsay's paycheck she receives to serve as her daughter's manager--a figure that would total in the millions of dollars each year.

As for Lindsay, there was no question whose side she stood on when it came to the split.

"[My father] didn't do anything for my career except go out and not come home at night and make my mom and me stay up and wonder where he was and then show up three days later," the actress told W magazine in April.

In July, she skipped out on the London premiere of Herbie: Fully Loaded in order to fly home and be by her mother's side during the divorce trial.

The teen queen has said she expressed some of her pain over her relationship with her father in "Confessions of a Broken Heart," the first single on her new album, A Little More Personal (Raw).

"Daughter to father, daughter to father/I don't know you, but I still want to," she sings. "Daughter to father, daughter to father/Tell me the truth, did you ever love me?

"'Cause these are, these are the confessions of a broken heart/Of a broken heart."

Lindsay also directed the music video for the song, which depicts an aggressive husband screaming at his wife while their daughter (played by Lindsay's younger sister, Aliana) looks on fearfully.

"It was really to let girls, boys, anyone that's in an abusive relationship, anyone who is going through things like that...to put it out there that it's okay to express how you feel," the actress explained to the Associated Press. "If I'm in the position where I can take a stand and say something important, then I'd like to do that."

For his part, Michael Lohan seems to accept he has a lot to make up for as a parent.

In a statement expressing his contentment at having settled his divorce, he said he looks "forward to the opportunity to rebuild my relationship with my children."

It remains to be seen if Lindsay will take her dad up on his offer.