Dina Lohan, mama to Lindsay, has hit back at criticism of her daughter’s latest photo shoot where she posed nude for photographer Bert Stern at New York Magazine. (The whole NSFW, er, spread can be seen here.)

“It was very tastefully done,” Dina tells People of the photos, a recreation of Marilyn Monroe’s legendary 1962 photo shoot shot by Bert Stern. “I respect the photographer as an artist, so I look at them artistically. For him to call Lindsay 46 years later and to say can you recreate these photos is an honor. I looked at it as art, and as Lindsay doing a character. So I don’t look at them like it’s Playboy; she was being a character. So if you look at it that way, you can look at it as a mother.”

Yes, it’s the height of taste for a young, reckless actress to imitate the patron saint of young, reckless actresses in a copy of that iconic last photo shoot before Monroe died of a drug overdose. Well played, Dina.

Even more scary though:

And Dina adds that had the photos been inappropriate, Lindsay’s sister Ali would not have visited the set. “Trust me,” Dina tells People, “I wouldn’t have sent my 14-year-old to the set [if the shoot was in bad taste]. And obviously Lindsay wouldn’t do anything with her sister there, that was risqué.”

Newsflash to Dina: We definitely do not trust you! You’re a parent of a 21-year-old who has served time for drunk driving and possession, been in and out of rehab for a year, and is better known for her tabloid lifestyle than for her talent at this point. And yet you think you’re so fond of the parent/manager schtick that you want to star in a reality TV show where you turn young Ali Lohan and little brother Cody into celebrities?

Truthfully it seems Ali was brought to the photo shoot so she can see what will be expected of her about four years from now.