I don't think you should lie about freelancing and 100% agree about "not putting anything you aren't prepared to answer questions about"
If you're thinking about it as "lying" you're doing it wrong. You should think about it as “explaining what I was doing professionally, to learn, grow and strengthen my skill set during these periods of less active employment.” Is glossing over the vast majority of your time that you spent living your life instead of hustling lying by omission? Maybe… but “I wasn’t doing shit professionally because reasons” is not a message you want a potential employer to hear.