Can celebrities really manifest their dream roles through style choices?
The queen of reality stardom Kim Kardashian was actually Paris Hilton's personal assistant for a while, and became a sort of protégée.
They all had stories to tell about the long-lasting impact the trauma has had on their lives. Hilton speaks about her insomnia, horrific nightmares, and an inability to trust people, particularly in romantic relationships.
In conversation with her sister Nicky, Paris admitted that she wants to have a family but can't see when she'll have time. She says she can't relax until she's made a billion dollars. But now that she's married to businessman Carter Reum, she's become a stepmom, and it's very likely that more kids are in her future.
Looking back at this period of her life, Hilton says: "I just had this plan and created this brand and this persona and this character and I’ve been stuck with her ever since."
Off the back of this 'character,' Hilton has created a hugely successful brand and product range including cosmetics, perfumes, and clothing. She's currently worth approximately US$300 million.
Salomon released a notorious tape of the two of them in bed that would scar Hilton's reputation. The tape became the subject of a crass debate and a decade's worth of jokes at her expense.
Hilton shares a sad relationship history in which several of her boyfriends have been physically abusive to her. "I just wanted love so bad that I was willing to accept being hit or yelled at or screamed or strangled.” Fortunately, it looks like she's finally found a good guy in husband Carter Reum, with whom she welcomed a baby by surrogate in January 2023.
Behind the scenes, she seems to be extremely driven and completely dedicated to her work. She claims that she travels 250 days out of the year to promote her brand and grow her business.
This is the point where the Paris Hilton everyone loved to hate came into existence. She went all out on the ditzy, vacuous, rich girl persona. She was adored by tabloids and hounded by paparazzi.
It seems that she never stops moving, her extremely tight schedule allowing her very little free time. Her sister seemed concerned for her and said she had been telling her to take a vacation for years.
Her fame was taken to new levels when her reality TV show 'The Simple Life' aired. The show followed Hilton and her best friend and fellow socialite Nicole Richie as they joined a middle class family and attempted to adapt to a 'normal' life.
Hilton seems like a lonely person, throwing herself into her work and shielding herself from the world with a carefully crafted character.
One devastating quote from the film relates to the torture she suffered at the reform schools her parents sent her to as a teenager. "I was going to do everything in my power to be so successful that my parents could never control me again."
Paris Hilton had a privileged but conservative upbringing.
Hilton describes the traumatic experiences she had at these schools, which were more like educational labor camps or prisons. She frequently tried to escape and would be beaten or sent to solitary confinement.
Hilton rebelled against her parents as a young teen, admitting that she used to sneak out at night and go to clubs with a fake ID.
However, Provo Canyon School wasn't the only reason she had trust issues. Shortly after leaving the school, she started a relationship with professional poker player Rick Salomon. He was 13 years her senior.
She and her sister, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, revealed how their mother wanted them to be perfect little ladies. They were dressed in matching outfits and sent to special schools to learn proper manners and etiquette, despite Paris' self-described 'tomboy' personality.
Paris Hilton studied at Provo Canyon School in Utah until she turned 18. This school has since been the subject of a huge scandal revealing the abuse that took place there.
Kardashian is interviewed in the documentary and credits Hilton with creating a new role in the public eye which facilitated her own career. She claims that Hilton started the trend of having paparazzi follow your every move.
Media expert Sheeraz Hasan claims that at the height of her fame, a good photo of Hilton could sell for anything from US$50,000 to $1 million. The documentary includes footage of paparazzi getting into physical fights over photos.
When discussing the leaked tape, she makes the valid point that "if that happened today it would not be the same story at all." Today, Salomon would have been the bad guy and Hilton the victim.
Her parents became desperate to stop her and began sending her to boarding schools that specialized in helping teens with behavioral issues. They were called "emotional growth schools."
One of her most famous moments in the show was when she claimed not to be familiar with the enormous supermarket chain Walmart, and asked if they sold walls.
The lasting impression given by this documentary is that Paris Hilton is not who we judged her to be at the height of her fame, and perhaps a re-evaluation of the way we treat celebrities might be in order.
Sources: (YouTube) (Variety) (The Things) (NYLON)
Paris Hilton was perhaps the biggest star of the early 2000s, even though she never really did much to become famous. She was one of the first celebrities to become a celebrity for celebrity's sake. She was known for her partying, her leaked sex tape, and saying "that's hot" in her babyish drawl. Similar to the Kardashians today, she was openly scorned by the media and considered fair game for all manner of insults.
This image of Paris Hilton changed drastically after the release of her 2020 documentary, 'This Is Paris.' In the documentary, Hilton alleged that she had been abused at a reform school for troubled teens when she was young. She met with a group of other survivors who had had similar experiences and afterwards started a campaign to protect young people from suffering the same fate. Hilton also assisted in getting a law passed to protect children at reform schools in Utah, where she herself spent time at the infamous Provo Canyon School. She took her campaign to the federal level and conducted meetings at Capitol Hill to discuss the introduction of countrywide legislation.
Suffice it to say, we probably don't know as much about Paris Hilton as we'd like to think we do. Click on to see a previously hidden side of the star.
Who is Paris Hilton, really?
Paris Hilton gives congressional testimony on abuse at child welfare programs before Ways and Means Committee
CELEBRITY Socialites
Paris Hilton was perhaps the biggest star of the early 2000s, even though she never really did much to become famous. She was one of the first celebrities to become a celebrity for celebrity's sake. She was known for her partying, her leaked sex tape, and saying "that's hot" in her babyish drawl. Similar to the Kardashians today, she was openly scorned by the media and considered fair game for all manner of insults.
This image of Paris Hilton changed drastically after the release of her 2020 documentary, 'This Is Paris.' In the documentary, Hilton alleged that she had been abused at a reform school for troubled teens when she was young. She met with a group of other survivors who had had similar experiences and afterwards started a campaign to protect young people from suffering the same fate. Hilton also assisted in getting a law passed to protect children at reform schools in Utah, where she herself spent time at the infamous Provo Canyon School. She took her campaign to the federal level and conducted meetings at Capitol Hill to discuss the introduction of countrywide legislation.
Suffice it to say, we probably don't know as much about Paris Hilton as we'd like to think we do. Click on to see a previously hidden side of the star.