Lindsay Lohan is back in Abu Dhabi after announcing she was leaving Dubai

The 'Mean Girls' actress said she was returning to the US to pursue her acting career once again

Lindsay Lohan is thought to have been living in the UAE for five years. Lindsay Lohan / Instagram

After announcing that she was leaving the UAE for America in early January, Lindsay Lohan seems to be back in Abu Dhabi.

The Mean Girls actress has posted an Instagram photo of herself at luxe hotel, Zaya Nurai Island, with the caption that quotes the Dalai Lama that reads: "The purpose of our lives is to be happy".

The 33-year-old rang in the New Year in Muscat, Oman, where she told CNN's Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper, that she was going to revive her acting career in the US via satellite interview.

“I’m managing my sister, so I want to really focus on me and everything that I can do in my life and come back to America and start filming again, which I’m doing some time soon in this new year,” she said. “And, you know, just taking back the life I’ve worked so hard for and sharing it with my family and you guys.”

But she seems to have had a change of heart, and is back in the emirates once again after the Zaya Nurai Island Instagram account re-shared her photograph and wrote: "our special guests".

Lohan was thought to have been living in Downtown Dubai since 2017, but has been a regular visitor to the emirate since 2008, when she attended the grand opening of Atlantis The Palm.

She has spoken publicly about her love for Abu Dhabi in the past.

"Usually, when I have spare time, my family and friends come to visit, which is amazing," she said in a 2018 interview with Ahlan! magazine. "We go to Zaya Nurai Island, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Jumeirah for beaches and water sports. It's lovely."

She added: "The best thing about living in the UAE is no paparazzi!"

Since moving to the region, Lohan has embraced Islam.

Her Instagram bio reads, "Salam Aleikum", and she has been seen wearing modestwear, including headscarves and burkinis.

In 2017, she was seen holding a copy of the Quran, which she spoke about in an interview with Haber Turk.

"My very close friends, who have been there for me a lot, in London are Saudi and they gave me the Quran and I brought it to New York because I was learning," she explained. “It opened doors for me to experience spiritually, to find another true meaning. This is who I am.”

“They crucified me for it in America,” she added. “They made me seem like Satan. I was a bad person for holding that Quran.

“I was so happy to leave [America] and go back to London after that, because I felt so unsafe in my own country. If this [Islam] is something that I want to learn, this is my own will.”