Lindsay Lohan recalls working in the morgue, says she helped prepare Whitney Houston’s body

In late 2011, Lindsay Lohan was court-ordered to work at the Los Angeles County Morgue in 12-hour shifts for violating probation. In the following months of service, she said she learned a lot about herself — and had an eerie glimpse into what could be her future.

Speaking with The Telegraph this week, Lindsay said she believes she was placed in the morgue because the court thought she would be better able to handle it than other offenders.

“[It was] F’d up and inappropriate – because a lot of other people were meant to do it, and they were like,” said Lindsay, who is in London to appear in David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow stage act. “It’s different for me than it would be for other people — like, no one would really have to work at the morgue in LA and roll a body bag for Whitney Houston.”

Even though she found the assignment “inappropriate,” Lindsay said it wasn’t actually as bad as she anticipated.

“I know it sounds really dark and strange, but I thought it would be a lot worse,” she explained. “I kind of regulated a lot of it. I’d tell people: ‘You didn’t fold that sheet properly’, because I’m OCD with folding… [Eventually] I was like: OK, wait. Something needs to change, and I think that’s me.”

Although the experience obviously didn’t enable her to do an instant 180, Lindsay maintains she’s a different person than a few years back.

“I’m glad that I’m finding my way. I want to work for this next year, and then take some time, and hopefully fall in love, and hopefully have a family,” she said. “Now I see all these kids that are living so fast. I think: I’ve been there. I want to hold them, and say: it’s not worth it.”

The show she is currently working on opens later this month. Lindsay said the production gives her the opportunity to “fight for” what she lost.

“I lost a lot of… I wouldn’t say… I don’t think ‘respect’ is the word… trust from a lot of people,” she said. “And I don’t mind gaining that back.”

UPDATE An official from the LA County Coroner’s Office told TMZ Lindsay’s claim about rolling a body bag for Whitney Houston is impossible because “no one from any court-ordered probation program came in contact with the body” and the corpse was never even placed in a body bag at the facility.