A not so simple life. Paris Hilton may be an heiress, but she’s endured her share of hardships throughout her years in the public eye.
During a February 2023 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, the New York native described her public persona — “a dumb blonde with a sweet but easy edge” — as her “steel-plated armor.”
She added of her alter-ego: “I made sure I never had a quiet moment to figure out who I was without her. I was afraid of that moment because I didn’t know what I’d find.”
The daughter of hospitality mogul Richard Hilton and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kathy Hilton, Paris was sent to a series of boarding schools for troubled teens in her youth, including Provo Canyon School in Springville, Utah. The model later spoke out about the alleged physical and mental abuse she experienced at the treatment center.
In the September 2020 documentary This Is Paris, the DJ recalled being pulled out of bed by strangers to be taken to the school in the middle of the night.
“I started screaming for my mom and dad to help me and no one came,” she said. “I saw my parents standing by their door, crying. And I was like, ‘Please help me. What’s happening?’ And no one would tell me what was happening.”
In the film, Paris claimed that she was beaten, forced to take unidentified pills and once made to take her clothes off and spend a day in solitary confinement during her time at the institution.
Then-CEO of the school, Adam McClain, said in a September 2020 statement to USA Today that Provo Canyon was “sold by its previous ownership in August 2020” and therefore couldn’t comment on the reality TV personality’s claims.
Paris revealed in the documentary that her boarding school experiences left her unable to trust anyone, including her own family.
“Even to this day, it’s really hard for me to let anyone in. I’m scared I haven’t gotten to experience real life, like having a family and being in love,” she shared. “I want to change.”
One year after This Is Paris was released, the House of Wax actress married Carter Reum in November 2021. The duo got engaged the previous February after more than a year of dating.
“This month, I became a wife and I’m so grateful to not only my amazing husband, but also the wonderful friends and family that surrounded us on our wedding weekend and have supported us along the way,” the Cooking With Paris alum wrote via Instagram shortly after the nuptials.
She continued: “This next chapter will be my best to come, not only as a wife, advocate and businesswoman, but as the Paris I’m more and more proud to be every day.”
The couple welcomed their son, Phoenix, via surrogate in January 2023.
“You are already loved beyond words,” Paris wrote via Instagram at the time alongside a photo of her little one’s hand holding her thumb.
2000
The Confessions of an Heiress author began modeling as a teenager. She appeared in the September 2000 issue of Vanity Fair alongside sister Nicky Hilton in photos shot by David LaChappelle.
“Paris had a charisma back then that you couldn’t take your eyes off,” LaChappelle told The Guardian in November 2017. “She would giggle and laugh and be effervescent and take up a room.”
2002
The Paris Hilton’s My New BFF alum got engaged to model Jason Shaw in May, but the duo called it quits the following February.
2003
The “Stars Are Blind” singer’s reality series with friend Nicole Richie, The Simple Life, premiered on Fox in December. The series — which ran for five seasons until August 2007 — followed the twosome as they struggled to do low-paying jobs.
During a January 2020 interview with Deadline, Paris said that the reality series hadn’t depicted her true self.
“Everything I’ve done before [This Is Paris] was me playing a character,” she said. “I was in on the joke. Sometimes it is annoying people assuming I am the blonde airhead that I played on the show, but I like proving people wrong.”
2004
A sex tape that Paris had filmed with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon in 2001 was released in June.
Speaking about the leaked tape in This Is Paris, the DJ said she felt the video had taken away the future she’d planned for herself.
“I was just so lost and desperate for love that I found the worst possible person,” she said of Salomon.
2005
The former Hollywood Love Story host got engaged to shipping heir Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis in May after five months of dating. The pair called the wedding off that November.
2005
Paris starred in the slasher film House of Wax. Promotional materials created for the film featured the tagline “See Paris Die.”
2006
The World According to Paris alum released her self-titled debut album, Paris.
2007
In June, the media personality spent 23 days in a California prison after violating her probation from a previous traffic violation.
“It was a very traumatic experience, but I feel like God does make everything happen for a reason,” Paris said of the experience during a June 2007 appearance on Larry King Live. “It gave me a time out in life. … I took that time to get to know myself. I have a new outlook on life.”
2009
Paris’ home was robbed several times by members of the Bling Ring, a group of teenagers whose crime spree was later documented in a 2013 Sofia Coppola film.
The Paris: The Memoir author allowed scenes from the movie to be filmed at her house where the burglaries took place.
2012
The model made her debut as a DJ at Brazil’s Pop Music Festival in June.
“When I am up on stage, it’s an indescribable feeling,” Paris told Billboard in October 2020. “The energy and the love that I get from the audience is such a magical feeling, and being up there, I feel like I am on top of the world.”
2018
Actor Chris Zylka proposed to the “Nothing in This World” singer in January 2018 after one year of dating. That November, the entertainers called off their engagement.
2020
The podcaster opened up about her traumatic experiences at Provo Canyon School in the documentary This Is Paris.
“There was no getting out of there. You are sitting on a chair, staring at a wall all day long, getting yelled at or hit. I felt like a lot of the people that worked there got off on torturing children and seeing them naked,” Paris alleged in the film.
She continued: “I was freezing, starving, I was alone and I was scared. My parents live in New York, they didn’t know, but I was so angry and so upset, I hated them. I was there for 11 months and the only thing that saved my sanity was thinking about what I wanted to do and who I wanted to become when I got out of there. I was gonna do everything in my power to be so successful that my parents could never control me again.”
2021
Paris and Reum tied the knot in November after two years of dating.
“When you find your soulmate, you don’t just know it. You feel it,” the Hottie and the Nottie actress wrote via Instagram the previous February, announcing the lovebirds’ engagement. “I said yes, yes to forever. There’s no one I’d rather spend forever with.”
2023
The couple secretly welcomed son Phoenix via surrogate in January.
“My entire life has been so public,” Paris told Harper’s Bazaar of her decision to delay announcing her good news to the world. “I’ve never had anything for myself. We decided that we wanted to have this whole experience to ourselves.”
