Paris Hilton

• Born: February 17, 1981
• Place of Birth: New York, NY

Hilton, an heiress to the hotel chain that bears her surname, became a pop-culture phenomenon with the debut of her reality show The Simple Life in 2003. She was soon the most well-known modern “celebutante”—a person primarily famous for being wealthy. Hilton branded perfumes, jewelry, and nightclubs with her name. Legal troubles and time in jail curtailed her career late in the decade.

Socialite Paris Hilton drew attention throughout the 2000s for her reality television antics and her involvement in an infamous sex tape. A former boyfriend, actor and producer Rick Salomon, videotaped an intimate encounter the couple shared in 2001, which was later uploaded to the internet. The Salomon video surfaced a few weeks before The Simple Life, the reality television series starring Hilton and her best friend, Nicole Richie, debuted in 2003. Thirteen million viewers tuned in to the FOX series, which featured the young, wealthy women doing menial chores on a farm in rural Arkansas. Although critics denounced The Simple Life, the show was renewed for several seasons.

In 2004, Hilton released an autobiography, Confessions of an Heiress. That same year, she became the namesake of the Club Paris nightspots and made millions from the venture before being fired in 2007 for missing appearances. Hilton again made headlines in 2005 when her cell phone was hacked, and the contact information of her famous friends was posted online. She released an album, Paris, to poor reviews in August 2006. A month later, Hilton was arrested for driving under the influence. She accepted a plea agreement and received probation. After feuding for some time, Hilton and Richie reconciled and returned for a fifth and final season of The Simple Life in late 2006.

In January 2007, Hilton pleaded no contest to alcohol-related reckless driving but violated her probation by driving with a suspended license the following month. Hilton was sentenced to forty-five days in jail. She was incarcerated for several days and was set to serve the remainder of her sentence under house arrest until a judge ordered her to return to jail. Released on June 26, 2007, Hilton spent a total of twenty-two days in detention.

In 2008, Hilton returned to reality television with the game show Paris Hilton's My New BFF, in which people competed to become her new best friend. The show lasted two seasons before being canceled in 2009. She also starred in the romantic comedy The Hottie and the Nottie (2008), appeared in the musical horror film Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), and had a guest role in an episode of the dark fantasy series Supernatural. In 2011, she starred in and produced the short-lived reality series The World According to Paris.

In 2012, Hilton made her debut as a DJ at the Pop Music Festival in Brazil. Although she announced her second album the following year, Hilton only released a series of singles, including "Come Alive" and "High Off My Love" in 2014. The same year, she became the DJ in residence at Harrah's Atlantic City's the Pool After Dark. Hilton spent the rest of the 2010s expanding her business empire, which spanned all aspects of the entertainment industry, from television to fashion to music.

The third decade of the twenty-first century found Hilton maturing after decades in the public eye. In 2020, Hilton started the YouTube show Cooking with Paris, but viewers were also introduced to another side of Hilton when the YouTube documentary, This is Paris debuted the same year. In the film, Hilton details the emotional and physical abuse she suffered while attending boarding schools for troubled teenagers in Utah. Hilton then appeared before Congress lobbying for reforms to be made to the industry and produced a podcast in 2022 detailing the experiences of others in boarding school environments. In 2021, Hilton married Carter Reum. They have two children together.

Impact

Hilton and Richie’s reality series and subsequent fame increased the public’s appetite for news about celebrities and socialites. Although other reality shows have since featured other celebutantes, The Simple Lifewas the most successful and enduring. Hilton received less media attention as the global recession developed and deepened late in the decade. However, new shows about wealthy individuals like Hilton, such as Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Keeping Up With the Kardashians, remained popular. In the 2020s, Hilton continued to reinvent herself and achieved further business and personal success.

Bibliography

Associated Press. “Economy’s Cultural Impact Tough to Gauge.” Newsday. Newsday, 27 Sept. 2009. Web. 9 July 2012.

CNN. “Paris Hilton Out of Jail.” CNN. Cable News Network, 7 June 2007. Web. 6 July 2012.

Ebner, Mark. Six Degrees of Paris Hilton: Inside the Sex Tapes, Scandals, and Shakedowns of the New Hollywood. New York: Gallery, 2009. Print.

Hilton, Paris. Confessions of an Heiress. New York: Touchstone, 2004. Print.

“Paris Hilton Biography.” People. Time Inc., 2012. Web. 6 July 2012.

“Paris Hilton Testifies About Abuse She Says She Suffered at a Utah Boarding School.” USA Today, 9 Feb. 2021, www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/02/09/paris-hilton-testifies-alleged-abuse-utah-boarding-school/4446908001/. Accessed 19 Apr. 2023.

Whitman, Sara. "Paris Hilton Plans to Be ‘Strict’ about Kids Phoenix and London Having Phones: ‘Never Thought I’d Say This’." Page Six, 11 May 2024, pagesix.com/2024/05/22/parents/paris-hilton-plans-to-be-strict-about-her-kids-phoenix-and-london-having-phones/. Accessed 23 May 2024.