Nadine Osman

Hollywood starlet Lindsay Lohan said she was “racially profiled” at Heathrow airport recently.

Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on February 22, the 30-year-old actor who is studying Islam, said she was requested to remove her headscarf by security staff queuing for a flight to New York, having lately returned from Turkey.

“I was wearing a headscarf and I got stopped at the airport and racially profiled for the first time in my life,” she said. “She opened my passport and saw ‘Lindsay Lohan’ and started immediately apologising but then said, ‘Please take off your head scarf.’”

Lohan said that she was “scared” by what such interventions might mean for others. “How would another woman who doesn’t feel comfortable taking off her headscarf feel?” she said. “That was really interesting to me.”

The interviewer asked if the incident “freaked her out”, so which Lohan replied: “It did, I’m from New York, I was born and raised there so I was a little intimidated.”

A spokeswoman for Heathrow Airport told The Muslim News: “Heathrow respects the cultural and religious needs of all passengers travelling through the airport. We work hard to provide our passengers with great service while ensuring everyone remains safe and secure.”

A Home Office spokeswoman added: “Those who land at a UK airport to catch a connecting flight would usually have their documentation checked.”