LINDSAY LOHAN is gracing the cover of the March issue of Paper magazine, and the embattled actress/tabloid target is only talking to ET's KEVIN FRAZIER in an exclusive interview from the magazine's first-ever L.A. Fashion Luncheon -- her  first TV interview in over nine months!

"I think everybody should be just who they are," she says, referencing her quote on the cover that says, "I am what I am." "I think it's an important message to send, [instead of] trying to be someone else."

In her Paper interview, on newsstands now, Lindsay shares her fears of being an out-of-work actor, and says she just wants to find another great script and great role.

But she tells Kevin that she's working on a number of new projects. She's gearing up to do some films in the spring and summer; she wants to bring vaccines to Africa to help the impoverished; and she's working on her third album. "It's very therapeutic for me," she says.

In the magazine, the 21-year-old star also gets candid about sorting through what she calls the "wreckage" of the last year, in which she found herself in and out of rehab, in yet another car accident, pulling a brief stay in jail -- and doing community service at an L.A. morgue as part of her DUI sentence.

"I've been doing this for so long and I've grown up very fast, and I have different responsibilities that people have at my age," Lindsay tells Kevin. "It's taken me time to recognize that, and I've gone through the phases that I've had to go through, so now I'm growing up and hopefully people are growing with me."