There’s possibly no celebrity better equipped to deconstruct their public image than Paris Hilton. Having spent most of her life staring down a camera lens, the 39-year-old is all too aware of what you think when she coos “that’s hot” in the overly breathy baby voice that’s become her signature.
Coming across like a freshly tanned Barbie doll in a velour tracksuit, Hilton was thrust into the public eye as one-half of the privileged celebutantes at the heart of The Simple Life alongside bestie Nicole Richie. After the seminal reality series debuted in 2003, a writer for the New York Times decried that, “In a ravenous celebrity culture, Ms. Hilton’s rise shows how far celebrity itself has been devalued.” But two decades into a career parlaying her party-girl image into a global empire, even Hilton’s most vocal critics can’t accuse her of simply being “famous for being famous”—at least anymore.
A new documentary, This Is Paris, is a reintroduction of sorts for anyone who still associates Hilton with her early aughts tabloid infamy. Since releasing her first fragrance in 2004, Hilton’s perfume collection is estimated to have done more than $2.5 billion in sales. She has 19 product lines that span skin care, handbags, jewelry, and lingerie, with more than 45 branded retail locations across the Middle East and Asia. Purportedly the highest-paid female DJ in the world (raking in up to $1 million per gig), Hilton has come a long way since her days on The Simple Life inquiring whether Walmart “sold wall stuff,” which is exactly what she and This Is Paris director Alexandra Dean wanted to showcase.
“I easily could have made this some vanity project if I wanted to, but I feel like I’ve done that my entire career,” Hilton told Vogue over a recent Zoom call from her Los Angeles home. “I wanted to release something that wasn’t some facade I was just putting up.” No stranger to having her life documented by a camera crew—including as recently as the Netflix documentary The American Meme—Hilton has rarely spoken about the events of her life with as much candor as she does in This Is Paris. Most noteworthy is the revelation that when she was just 16, Hilton’s parents sent her to the Provo Canyon School, “an intensive, psychiatric residential treatment center for youth” in Utah, where she says she spent 11 months enduring all manner of physical and psychological abuse until she was 18. Provo was a last-ditch effort by Kathy and Richard Hilton to control their rebellious daughter, who would often cut school and sneak out to nightclubs after the family moved from Los Angeles to New York in 1996.
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Hilton hadn’t planned on discussing these experiences in This Is Paris until Dean started probing her about the recurring nightmares she’d been experiencing since she was a teenager. Details of the abuse started pouring out as Hilton began contextualizing the trauma she never divulged to anyone—including her parents—upon her release from Provo. “All I wanted this film to focus on was my life as a businesswoman, but ultimately I decided to tell it how it is,” says Hilton. “I want to show that you can go through hardship and still make something of yourself and not let your past define you. I love showing who I am because I’m so proud of who I’ve become.” (As the New York Times reported this week, the school has noted on its website that it changed ownership in 2000, after Hilton was a student. A representative from Provo said the school does “not condone or promote any form of abuse.”)
With the documentary now streaming on YouTube, Hilton recently sat down with Vogue to chat about the “therapeutic” experience of making This Is Paris, early aughts nostalgia, and leaving behind her “blonde ditz” persona for good.
You’re constantly on the go in This Is Paris, traveling to Belgium or Korea or back home to Los Angeles. You described yourself as a workaholic who always needs to keep herself distracted, so how have you adjusted to the past few months taking a forced pause?
It’s a new way of life for everyone. It’s given me the time to finally pause in one place and actually reflect on everything happening. I’m so grateful that I’m in the most incredible relationship of my life. [Hilton is now dating businessman and family friend Carter Reum.] I feel so lucky that I’ve finally found true love, because I can’t imagine going through this pandemic by myself. It’s been like being in a relationship for five years given the amount of time we’ve spent with each other. I have someone by my side that I’m so incredibly in love with and we’ve become so close.
What was the genesis of This Is Paris and figuring out what a documentary about this moment in your life would look like?
So many production companies have pitched my team ideas over the years and I always said no. I was focused on my business, and reality shows just weren’t in my interests anymore. Then I had some great meetings with IPC, who told me the story they wanted to tell and convinced me to trust their vision. But the original premise of this film was not what I ended up talking about. I was only going to talk about the empire I created as a businesswoman because I was sick of the misconceptions people still had about me. I don’t want to be remembered as that dumb-blonde airhead from The Simple Life. That’s not who I am, and I wanted to show that, because I’m very proud of the woman I am and what I’ve created. I’m discussing things I’ve never even told my own sister, parents, best friends, ex-boyfriends. It was a very therapeutic experience.
What were those conversations like as far as convincing your family to be a part of this project?
I’m so grateful they decided to be a part of it. Especially my sister, Nicky [Rothschild]. We’ve always been opposites—she hates the spotlight and turned down The Simple Life when the producers wanted it to be her and I. That’s just not a life that she wanted. But she knew that if she didn’t do this film that it wouldn’t be the full picture. No one knows me better than my sister, but even she never knew what I went through because I hadn’t discussed it with her or my mom before. I asked my dad [Richard Hilton] to participate, but he didn’t want to be in it at all. He’s a businessman and said he didn’t want to discuss his private life. Obviously, it was hard for my mom to hear what I went through and everything I never told her before. It was very emotional for all of us.
At one point in the documentary, you said, “My mom wanted me to be a Hilton, I wanted to be Paris.” Can you elaborate on that?
My mom and dad were always very strict and sheltered. My mom wanted me to have that kind of debutante, princess life, and that’s just not who I was. I didn’t want to just be known as the Hilton hotel granddaughter. That whole socialite world felt so fake to me. I never wanted to be like that, but I felt like I had to pretend because my parents were so strict. Then I moved to New York as a teenager and just completely rebelled.
How was someone with your background expected to behave, as a celebrity heiress?
I was expected to marry some guy, have kids, and be a socialite. That’s just not something that ever interested me. I always strived to be independent and on my own. I think everything I went through when I was younger made me that way. And even though it was so painful and traumatic, I try to always look at the positives because I don’t think I’d be the businesswoman I am today if I didn’t go through what I did. It gave me the drive to be independent so no one could ever control me again. I felt like success was freedom. And also just wanting that love. Traveling the world and hugging my fans and seeing their eyes light up is such an incredible feeling. I just feel like I was put here for a reason, to make people happy and be a positive light.
I read your first book, Confessions of an Heiress—
Loves it.
In the chapter “How to Be an Heiress,” you wrote, “I’m a fantasy to a lot of people. They want to think that I have way more fun than they do, and no one wants to think that I have a normal life or problems… I’ve only been me, so I can’t tell if my life is perfect or not.” What role did you feel like you served in the public eye as your celebrity grew and your life became more scrutinized?
I felt like I was this kind of fantasy, Barbie-princess, fairy-mermaid unicorn. Even though I was playing into a character, I know most people aren’t really like that. I just seemed like this free spirit even though nobody knew the other things I was going through, so I was almost like an escape for people. But also I think the media would just use that and treat me like... [pauses] Sometimes I would feel like a punching bag. A lot of people felt they could just be mean to me and say anything. It’s been painful reading some of the things that have been written about me just because I know the truth. People in Hollywood sell stories that aren’t true just because they know they’re going to get paid more money for whatever juicy lie they can make up. I don’t know. It’s just...it’s been a lot.
The film opens with a montage showing how often you were mocked on late-night talk shows and parodied across pop culture, like South Park and Saturday Night Live. How did the media’s treatment of you inform the way you chose to present yourself to the public?
When people said things that hurt my feelings, in my mind I’d say, “Paris, that’s you playing a character, that isn’t you. Don’t feel bad when people are saying things because people aren’t talking about you, they’re talking about what they think you are.” That mindset protected me because I’d already been so exposed and the whole world already had all these preconceived notions about me. I’m not a dumb blonde. I’m just really good at pretending to be one.
I loved the scene in This Is Paris when you talked about your relationship with David LaChapelle and how working with him so soon after your experiences at Provo really brought you out of your shell.
I owe basically everything to David. Shooting with him and being his muse changed my life.
I read an interview, where he said: “Paris had a charisma back then that you couldn’t take your eyes off. She would giggle and laugh and be effervescent and take up a room. She hadn’t been home for three days but she looked incredible. You never saw that girl looking messed up.” What do you think he saw in you?
He accepted me and made me feel so confident after going through so many traumatic experiences. That Vanity Fair story put me on the map and introduced me to the entire world. I’ll always be so grateful to David for the iconic work we’ve done together. He made me feel so beautiful. He’s one of those people I can actually be myself with who saw something in me that I didn’t because I was just so lost when I got out of Provo. Meeting someone like him who could open my eyes to this whole new world of glamour was magical. I love him so much.
How did that newfound freedom impact your sense of style? Even in your earlier club-kid days, you were never just recreating looks off the runway.
I’ve never been one to follow trends. I think because I’m an Aquarius, I’m just naturally creative and a little eccentric. I’ve never been one of those people who had to have the latest Dior or Chanel. I loved going downtown on 8th Street where Patricia Field’s and all these other fun stores used to be. My mom would buy me a ballgown and I’d literally be in a miniskirt with a latex top and rainbow extensions. I was just having fun with fashion, and it’s amazing now to see all of those styles coming back. During Fashion Week, a lot of my designer friends will show me their mood boards, and there are so many photos of me from back in the day. I love seeing the girls recreate all my looks, like the 21st birthday dress and just that entire vibe. Back then everyone made fun of me for what I wore. It was crazy for a New York socialite to dress like that, but obviously I was ahead of my time.
As cheeky and over-the-top as your fashion choices could be, you were definitely curating your own sense of style.
And I didn’t have a stylist or a publicist. No hair or makeup teams. Literally my sister and I were just doing this by ourselves. It was so different, because today everything is so planned out. Everyone has a creative director. Nothing is original, everyone is a carbon copy of each other. Everyone has the same face, the same everything. I’m very proud to be, like, the O.G.
You were also doing it before social media made it easier to build yourself into a brand. How would you characterize your relationship with social media today?
Social media can be fun, but when people use other peoples’ opinions as something to define who they are, it just becomes dangerous. I think there’s a lot of great influencers. I’m friends with a lot of them and I love the messages they’re putting out. But then there’s others that, I think, just do it for the likes. They’ll say things just to get attention; a lot of these kids don’t realize that it’s going to live with them. It’s important for kids to think about the things they’re putting out into the world. Chances are, if it’s something you don’t want out there forever, it’s going to end up haunting you for the rest of your life. I’ve built a very tough skin, but I can’t even imagine being a teenager today.
At the beginning of This Is Paris, you say, “I created this brand and this persona and this character, and I’ve been stuck with her ever since.” Do you still feel stuck?
When I filmed that scene, I really did feel that way. After really telling my story and just coming clean with everything, I feel like I’m not stuck anymore. I think even people who only ever judged me from the headlines will reconsider things they might’ve said about me in the past, which is exciting because I love proving people wrong. I can’t wait for people to meet the real Paris.