Before there were influencers, there was no one but Paris Hilton. Known for starring in the reality TV series ‘The Simple Life’, the renowned American Media personality is also a businesswoman, DJ, model, actress, singer and socialite.
On September 14th, Paris Hilton took everyone by surprise and dropped a documentary called ‘This is Paris’, cracking the façade she created and featuring her real story during the decade that built her fame.
Fans were absolutely shocked after Paris Hilton revealed in her documentary how she had been playing a character for almost 2 decades. Realizing that Paris was putting on a façade while going through a very dark phase and even by concealing her real voice and adopting a breathy baby voice, left fans in pure astonishment.
Having spent most of her life in front of a camera lens, and coming across as an obvious privileged ‘Barbie Doll’, the 39-year-old was thrust into the public eye alongside her bestie Nicole Richie in the reality series, The Simple Life’ that debuted in 2003. Not only did she make music, model, party, write an advice book and make TV cameos, she was also relentlessly criticized and labeled as “famous for being famous”.
Alexandra Dean, the director of ‘This is Paris’ was given full creative control by Ms. Hilton herself. “It was really difficult for me because I’m so used to having so much control and ‘The Simple Life’, just having everything perfect and edited. And with this, I had to just let go of all that control and let them use everything. “, she expressed.
The documentary unveiled the trauma that stemmed from Ms. Hilton’s years spent in boarding schools meant for ‘troubled teens.’ She spent 11 months in a psychiatric residential treatment center in Utah called Provo Canyon School. Paris recalls the night she arrived at Provo. She was taken from her bed which felt similar to being kidnapped where her and her peers were routinely provided mystery pills, which if she were to refuse, she would be sent to solitary confinement, and sometimes had to stay there 20 hours without clothing. She even claims how she received emotional, verbal and physical abuse from teachers and administrators. “It was just like living in hell,” she expressed.
Not only did Paris have recurring nightmares and have all forms of trust broken to some extent, she even learned how to mask her emotions due to events that later took place that made the public eye view her in a negative light.
“In every relationship I’ve always been like, ‘Oh, this is amazing. I’ve never been so happy. It was just something I would just say to the world, even when the worst things in the world were happening to me in my relationships. I didn’t want anyone to know because I didn’t want my brand to be affected.”, Paris explained.
Popular celebrities including Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato and more have involved themselves in producing documentaries that share an enlightening insight to their lives. ‘This is Paris’ was originally scheduled to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in April.
In the coming future, Ms. Hilton hopes to put her brand to good use and bring to light the institutions that help administer cruel psychiatric treatment to minors, by working with former students who have experienced similar situations.
After playing a character for most of her life, she’s ready to be herself and no longer interested in putting that mask back on. Paris went on to say, “I’m happy for people to know that I am not a dumb blonde, I’m just very good at pretending to be one.”
Dive into the world of Paris Hilton to explore her emotional past and learn about her journey. Tune into ‘This is Paris’ on YouTube to find out more!