Lindsay Lohan arrives at the Beverly Hills courthouse on Tuesday. (Reed Saxon/Associated Press)

Lindsay Lohan surrendered to Beverly Hills authorities on Tuesday to start her 90-day jail term.

She wore dark glasses, a black jacket and dark jeans as she ran a gauntlet of photographers and media personalities to enter the courthouse around 8:40 a.m. local time.

Lohan sat quietly during a brief hearing and was then handcuffed and led to a holding area within the courthouse. She was taken away later in an unmarked car to a women's facility.

The 90-day sentence was imposed two weeks ago after Lohan violated the terms of her probation in a 2007 drunk-driving and cocaine possession case.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel ordered officials not to allow Lohan to serve any of her sentence on house arrest or work release.

However, Lohan may serve less than 90 days because of jail overcrowding. She is then expected to spend three months in rehab.

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County sheriff's department, said later that Lohan will likely be released Aug. 1 or 2.

Accompanied by mother, sister

Lohan was accompanied to court by her mother, Dina, and younger sister, Ali, who wiped away tears after her sister was taken away. The judge ordered cameras in the court to be turned off before she remanded Lohan into custody.

Lohan was not represented by Robert Shapiro, the celebrity lawyer best known for defending O.J. Simpson, as he had suggested last week.

Her counsel was longtime attorney Shawn Chapman Holley, who said outside the court that Lohan had decided against hiring Shapiro.

"She's stepped up, she's accepted responsibility," Holley said of Lohan. "She's scared as anyone would be, but she's as resolute and she's doing it."

For the past week, Lohan had stayed at a sober-living facility owned by Shapiro. She broke the terms of her probation in the 2007 drunk-driving case by failing to attend a series of court-ordered alcohol education classes.

Star rose quickly

Prosecutor Danette Meyers said she thought the jail term appropriate and hoped to highlight the seriousness of drunk-driving offences.

"Someone can get killed," Meyers said. "Hopefully, it has opened a number of eyes."

Lohan found fame at age 11 in a remake of Disney's The Parent Trap and her star rose quickly with her work on movies such as Freaky Friday and Mean Girls.

But since 2007, she has been known more for her nightclub hopping and problems with substance abuse than her acting career.

Current projects, including her role as porn star Linda Lovelace in a biopic, are now in limbo.

With files from The Associated Press