When you're spending your snatched glimpses of time online emailing home or uploading photos there's not much time for the goss online, and English language mags were few and far between, save Time and those of a loftier subject matter. But I was after smut, dammit!

So while in Peru on the way to Machu Picchu, I'm not ashamed to say I shelled out an obscene amount of money for an American People magazine to devour, extra slowly, on the bus.

That was when I first heard of Lindsay Lohan, the redhead gracing the cover of my pricey mag. I didn't have a clue who she was or what she did but she was the hottest ticket in Tinseltown for a time, around the release of Mean Girls and Freaky Friday She was 17, gorgeous, and had the world at her feet.

Fast forward four years, and Lindsay Lohan is still making the covers of Hollywood gossip mags - albeit for different reasons. Still, no one quibbles about the talent she possesses, but Lohan's better known for a drug problem and numerous drink driving arrests than her career choices. The 17-year-old redhead has transformed into a 21-year-old bleached blonde who looks closer to 41, and like she just got off the pole at a New Jersey strip joint.

Don't worry, I'm not going to spend this blog bagging Lindsay. That she looks old and withered before her time is beside the point.

Having gone through said alcohol and drug problems, partying hard and a string of entirely unsuitable boyfriends, no-one's really going to be shocked with what Lindsay does next. I mean, Nicole Richie's got motherhood covered. Paris Hilton has dibs on general skankdom, and shaving your head would be far too Britney. So what's a starlet to do?

She becomes a lesbian.

Of course it's ridiculous to insinuate that two girls, or two guys, are doing the business just because they are close friends. But there have been long-term rumours about Lindsay and the status of her relationship with best mate, DJ Samantha Ronson. The two are certainly friends, and any speculation that their relationship had gone further was purely speculation. Sure, they hold hands, share hotel suites, and Lindsay is ever present at Ronson's deejaying gigs - but that's what friends are for, right?

Lindsay's mouthy mother Dina calls Sam a "sweetheart". Her Dad Michael has a slightly different take, saying it "is evident to anyone with half a brain" the pair are having a romance. They've been caught canoodling on a yacht in Cannes harbour and Lohan's taken to wearing an engagement ring on that finger, as well as another ring emblazoned with the initials ‘SR'. Word is they're moving in together.

Now I love my girlfriends, but I'm not gonna wear their initials spelled out in diamonds!

So are Lindsay and Samantha really an item, or is a lesbian faux-mance the only way this hard living starlet can stay in the headlines?

It'd be great for her if it was in fact the real deal, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the girl who grew up in the Hollywood spotlight knows this is a guaranteed way to generate publicity. And, sadly, an actress without publicity is no actress at all.

Since she left rehab I think it's pretty fair to say that Lindsay's career's been in the toilet. There's been word that other actors won't work with her, resulting in her being dropped from a project called The Manson Girls. She abruptly quit The Edge Of Love, the Dylan Thomas biopic with Keira Knightley. I'd have to take some time to ponder a choice of whether to gouge out my own eyes or watch her turn in I Know Who Killed Me, as a stripper with a secret twin and amnesia (what are the odds?) on the run from a serial killer.

She did have a guest spot on Ugly Betty, but so did Victoria Beckham - and she's not gonna be winning an Oscar any time soon.

Jodie Foster is evidence enough that talented women in Hollywood don't need to make a deal about their sexuality, although Foster is considerably more private than the warts-and-all Lohan. Jodie's only in the last few months made public acknowledgement of her 15-year relationship with lover Cydney Bernhard, although the two were always out and about in Los Angeles and raising two sons together in their Hollywood home. Ironically, this public acknowledgement came mere months before Jodie dumped Cydney for a younger woman - called Cindy. Confused yet?

My point is that this split has not generated much more press than if a male Hollywood star had dumped his wife of 15 years. A bit more, yes. A lot more? Not really.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi (will they become the de Rossi DeGenereses' when they tie the knot?) are proof that a loving, normal lesbian relationship can exist in Hollywood. So if the press and the public can accept a high profile star in a lesbian relationship (more so, it seems, than a homosexual one) will Lindsay tire of the lesbian life if it becomes normal in the eyes of the punters?

My money's on yes.