Lindsay Lohan went to the hospital on Thursday night because she was having an asthma attack, her mom tells PEOPLE.

“She was losing oxygen. She couldn’t breathe,” Dina Lohan says about her 21-year-old daughter, whose emergency room trip with deejay Samantha Ronson was photographed and reported on Friday as a trip to visit a friend.

“She was afraid to go the hospital because [the paparazzi] were gonna write about it. She was sick,” the elder Lohan adds. “If you were sick, and you’re mother couldn’t even take you to a hospital because paparazzi will fabricate some story, you know, it’s sad. It’s really sad.”

But Dina says Lindsay’s lucky to have Ronson by her side, telling PEOPLE, “Samantha is an angel.”

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