Lindsay Lohan thinks she has an 'unfair reputation'

As Lindsay Lohan is charged with lying and reckless driving, hours after an arrest following an alleged altercation in a New York City club Thursday morning, a reporter who interviewed her recently says the troubled actress was trying to get her life back on track.

"I actually was one of the only reporters granted an exclusive interview with Lindsay Lohan," says Jennifer Peros, a reporter for Us Weekly magazine. "I flew out to LA to talk to her about a month ago and was pretty surprised. She had me convinced that this was her turning a new leaf in life so I definitely was impressed by her eagerness. She showed up on time, she was totally focused. She wanted everybody to know that she knew this was her last chance to make it in Hollywood."

Peros says at the time of the interview, Lohan was making changes in her life to hopefully repair her troubled public perception.

"Lindsay was definitely trying very hard to put out a new image. She fired her entire publicity team. She hired a new one. She moved her entire life from LA to New York City which is now her permanent home base and she was definitely putting herself out there but was being very careful in the interviews that she granted. She pulled out of Barbara Walters because she didn't want to address some of the burning questions she'd be asked so she definitely was trying to put out a new image."

The 26-year-old's reputation has suffered another blow.

Early Thursday, the "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday" star was arrested at 4 a.m. and charged with third-degree assault.

She left a police precinct nearly four hours later with a black jacket pulled over her head. Lohan was wearing leggings, a green mini dress and high-heels. She drove off in a black SUV with a driver, a woman and another man who was seen going in and out of the precinct.

Lohan, 26, allegedly got into the spat with another woman at Club Avenue, in Manhattan's Chelsea section. She struck the woman in the face with her hand, police said. The woman did not require medical attention.

Lohan's attorney, Shawn Holley, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

After the June crash, the actress told police her assistant was driving, but detectives determined Lohan was behind the wheel, police said. Prosecutors charged her with three misdemeanors: providing false information to police, reckless driving and willfully obstructing a police officer from their duties. No date for Lohan's arraignment was announced, but the charges are likely to trigger a probation violation for a 2011 necklace theft case.

Lohan's newest arrest is her latest brush with law enforcement in New York City.

She was involved in a New York Police Department investigation in September after alleging a man had assaulted her in a New York hotel, but charges against the man were later dropped.

Also in September, the actress was accused of clipping a man with her car outside another Manhattan nightclub, but prosecutors chose not to move ahead with charges.

In October, police were called to her childhood home on Long Island after a report of a fight between her and her mother. An investigation revealed "no criminality."

The Los Angeles case comes nearly six months after the actress crashed while on her way to a movie set. She was taken to the hospital but returned to the set of the film "Liz and Dick" hours later.