Paris Hilton is a famous businesswoman who also works as a model, singer, and actress, among other things. She signed at a modeling agency when she was 18 in 1999. She soon found herself shooting with David LaChapelle. Her charming personality and charismatic nature made her a perfect model, and she soon gained more traction in her career. She quickly became well-known throughout the country. However, it wasn’t until 2003 that she reached international fame.
Paris Hilton’s true rise to stardom happened when she starred in the Fox reality television series entitled The Simple Life. The show was an instant success. The first episode alone had 13 million audience members around the nation. However, to make the show interesting, Paris Hilton had to craft the persona of a “dumb blonde,” which led to ridicule in some cases.
Still, Paris Hilton’s acting career was far from over. After testing the waters, she was sure acting would be a great pathway to pursue. Soon after The Simple Life, she found roles in The Hillz and Raising Helen.
In 2006, Paris Hilton decided it was time to try another talent; singing. She released her debut album, Paris, on August 22, 2006. On the Billboard 200, her album won a coveted sixth place. One song from the album, “Stars Are Blind” was so popular that it made the top ten list in seventeen different countries!
However, Paris Hilton’s life wasn’t always glamorous. Despite her overall financial success, her career found many rough patches. For example, her role in the romantic comedy film The Hottie and the Nottie was so bad that she earned the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. That incident, however, was far from the worst thing that happened to Paris Hilton.
Celebrity fans often think they know everything there is to know about their idols. However, in a newly released documentary entitled This Is Paris, Paris Hilton opened up about her difficult and tragic past.
In today’s video, we’re going to talk about the sad story of Paris Hilton’s childhood. Make sure you stick around until the very end, where we’ll reveal Paris’s brave message of hope to people around the world.
Facts Verse Presents: Paris Hilton Opens Up About Her Abusive Past
When you watch a celebrity on television, listen to their products or purchase items from their brands, it’s easy to imagine them as flawless beings who had life handed to them on a silver platter. It’s important to keep in mind that many celebrities are born into a position of privilege, especially financially. Some celebrities have humble origins, but most famous people rose to stardom because of their families or inherited wealth.
However, this is not to say that everything about a celebrity’s life is perfect. It is vital that we remember that, just like everyone else, celebrities are humans. They are subject to difficulties in life, just like the rest of us. In some cases, this even means they have been the victims of horrible trauma.
Most celebrities keep their personal life quite private. After all, most people wouldn’t want the whole world to know about the difficulties of their childhood. However, in a more recent trend, many celebrities are realizing that their privilege as a star creates the perfect platform to speak up about important issues. For example, celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence, Terry Crews, and Gwyneth Paltrow opened up about their experiences with sexual assault and harassment.
While many celebrities prefer to keep their personal lives quiet, and while they certainly deserve that privacy, lots of celebrities realize that, by sharing their personal struggles, they can see light on issues that are rarely speak about.
This is exactly what Paris Hilton chose to do. If you’re proud of these celebrities for using their positions of privilege to open up about difficult subjects, click the like button!
Hardly anybody could imagine the childhood trauma that Paris Hilton revealed in her latest documentary, This Is Paris. In one clip, Hilton stated “No one really knows who I am. Something happened in my childhood that I’ve never talked about with anyone. I still have nightmares about it. I wish I could bring a camera into my dreams and show you what it’s like. It’s terrifying. And I relive that every night.”
Despite finding fame at the tender age of 19, Paris Hilton’s childhood was quite troubled. In 1996, the Paris Hilton’s parents make the daring move from Los Angeles to New York, and Paris and her younger sister, Nicky Hilton drags along. While the two were excited to begin their new life in New York, Paris soon found out that it wasn’t at all like what she had hoped for. Students at her new school began to bully her, and she had a difficult time feeling accepted.
Furthermore, Paris’ parents had high expectations for their daughters. The socialite family expected their daughters to be prim and proper much of the time, and they made their daughters take etiquette classes, as well as abide by a strict set of rules. This sort of lifestyle would be horrifying to any teenager, and, coupled with the bullying she faced at school, Paris took drastic measures to fit in. She began to sneak out to nightclubs, chasing the feelings of acceptance and belonging.
When Paris Hilton’s parents, Kathy and Rick Hilton, discovered what she was doing, they took drastic measures of their own. They enrolled her in an “emotional growth school,” designed to squash the rebellion out of her. Hilton ran away from the first two “emotional growth schools” her parents sent her to. Beside themselves, Paris’ parents finally enrolled her in Provo Canyon School, a boarding school located in Utah. This is when Paris’ life took a turn for the worse. While the other two schools were far from desirable, Provo Canyon School would change Paris’s life forever.
Paris Hilton’s description of the boarding school is straight out of a nightmare. Paris Hilton was far from the only troubled student attending the school, and she wasn’t even in the worst condition. She mentions that “A lot of people are on suicide watch, and I am afraid that was going to happen to me.”
Furthermore, Paris Hilton also opened up about the physical abuse she faced at the hands of the staff. In her documentary, she painted a vivid description of what that abuse felt like. “You’re sitting on a chair staring at a wall all day long, getting yelled at or hit. I felt like a lot of the people who worked there got off on torturing children and seeing them naked.”
Paris also recalled the staff prescribing medications to many of the students, saying “They would prescribe everyone all these pills. I didn’t know what they were giving me. I would just feel so tired and numb.” After a time, Paris took a risk by figuring out how to avoid taking her pills. She would hide them all in a Kleenex. Unfortunately, despite the fact that all of the students were in an equally horrible situation, they didn’t form many close bonds with one another. Before long, another student saw how she was hiding her pills and told the staff members.
The consequences of Paris hiding her pills were horrifying. She was stripped of her clothing and put into solitary confinement for 20 hours. She recalled the experience with a shudder, saying “It felt like I was going crazy. Someone was in the other room that was in a straitjacket screaming. I was just freezing, I was starving. I was alone, and I was scared.”
The school’s staff members held so much power over Hilton that she felt too afraid to ask her parents for help. She remembered that one staff member even said “We’re just going to tell your parents you’re a liar and they’re not going to believe you.”
During the documentary, Paris finally chose to open up to her mother, Kathy Hilton, who was shocked to discover what went on in the school. While she and her husband were certainly strict with their daughters, Paris was relieved to learn that her mother would have never let her stay in the school had she known how terrible it was.
Shockingly, Provo Canyon School is still standing today, although a representative stated that the school received new ownership in 2000, and they allege that the school is no longer the way Paris described it.
Paris Hilton spent a horrifying eleven months at Provo Canyon School and, like many victims of abuse, it affected her relationships for many years to come. After being treated so cruelly, Paris began to expect the same out of future relationships, and she admits that she has had many controlling, angry, and even physically abusive partners even after her experiences at Provo Canyon School.
After Paris finally opened up about the abuse she faced, she managed to find many students who also attended Provo Canyon School. Together, they were able to discuss their trauma and find ways to heal from their horrifying experiences. They also spoke out against the abuse they faced and worked together to raise awareness of their situation.
Hilton finished up by saying “I feel like this is the best point I’ve ever been in in my life… It just made me feel like I wasn’t alone anymore.”
Do you think more celebrities should open up about serious issues they’ve faced, or do you think they should be more private about their lives? Let us know in the comments below, and don’t forget to subscribe to Facts Verse for more!
