The ex-husband of Dina Lohan and the father of Lindsay, Michael Lohan Jr., Ali, and Cody Lohan.

In 1990, Lohan was investigated for insider trading and convicted of criminal contempt of court. He was sentenced to three years in gaol in Nassau County, and was released in 1993 on five years probation. During this time, his daughter Lindsay had started modelling for the Ford Models agency and was starring in commercials, and by the time of his release in 1993, she was at the pinnacle of her career.

In 1997, Lohan was arrested when he violated his probation after flying to Napa, California to visit his daughter Lindsay, who had been hospitalised for an asthma attack that occurred during filming of a movie. He subsequently served a year in prison.

After Lindsay became a movie star, tensions arose in the family, due to Lohan's belief that Lindsay's career should be managed by professionals, and not the members of Dina's family that have been characterised as "hangers-on". This conflict came to a head when Dina's youngest brother, Matt Sullivan, got into a fistfight outside Michael's Long Island home, during a May 23, 2004 first communion party for their son Dakota. Though he maintained that Sullivan was responsible for the fight, Lohan was charged with attempted assault and, while awaiting sentencing, was involved in a car accident that led to his being charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. While in prison, he took up singing and songwriting, as well as correspondence courses for Teen Challenge, a faith-based sobriety program. Michael and Dina Lohan separated again later that year. Lohan was later arrested on June 29 after allegedly leaving a Long Island hotel where he had rented several suites without paying his $3,800 bill, and faced assault charges in Manhattan for allegedly swearing at a sanitation worker and punching the worker in the face after the worker's truck blocked his car and punching him in the face. On January 19, 2009, Dina's spokesperson confirmed that she had filed for divorce.

He subsequently worked as an actor and counsellor with the Long Island Teen Challenge rehabilitation program. He has also been involved in various television proposals, including the Michael Lohan Reality Project, a 2007 series produced by Frozen Pictures, which followed his life, work and efforts to reconnect with his daughter and family.