Paris Hilton invented a character with a “Barbie perfect life” as a “trauma response.” The 42-year-old heiress explains she dealt with her teenage trauma of being abused, including being sexually groomed by a teacher aged 14, by creating a persona that couldn’t be farther from the “shy” person she really is.
She felt pressured to keep playing the role because her “dumb” blonde alter-ego was “magnified” when she starred in the reality series “The Simple Life” in the noughties alongside pal Nicole Richie.
Speaking on Magic Radio to promote her tell-all tome, “Paris: The Memoir”, she said, “I think a lot of that character stems back to being a teenager and a trauma response and developing this kind of Barbie perfect life, so I wouldn’t have to think about what I went through.”
“And then getting the ‘Simple Life’ then it got magnified to the whole world where I had to continue playing that character year after year, and then I kind of just got stuck in it… I am very shy, people don’t know that about me. I am such a naturally shy person so when I play the character it’s like I am someone else and I don’t get as shy.”
Paris recently spoke for the first time about being knocked out with the date rape drug Rohypnol when she was a teen. The multi-millionaire – who had her first child, son Phoenix, with her 42-year-old venture capitalist husband Carter Reum in January – also revealed she was kissed in her teens by a predatory teacher who bombarded her with phone calls.
She told the February issue of Glamour magazine about being drugged as a teen after she and her friends met a group of men at the Century City Mall in Los Angeles, “We would go there almost every weekend. That was our favourite thing to do and these (older) guys would always just be hanging around the stores…”
“We’d talk to them, give them our beeper numbers. And then one day, they invited us to their house and we’re drinking these berry wine coolers. I didn’t drink or anything back then, but then when I had maybe one or two sips, I just immediately started feeling dizzy and woozy. I don’t know what he put in there, I’m assuming it was a roofie (Rohypnol).”
Paris added she woke a few hours later and found her friend had left, but she had memories of being abused. She said, “I remembered it. I have visions of him on top of me, covering my mouth, being like, ‘You’re dreaming, you’re dreaming,’ and whispering that in my ear.”
The incident happened when Paris was sent to live with her maternal grandmother after she says she was targeted by a teacher. One night when he lured her to his car she said they kissed before her mum and dad drove up – and chased them at 100mph.
Paris first revealed details of her abusive past in her 2020 YouTube documentary, “This Is Paris” – including abuse she suffered during her two years at schools for troubled teens, as well as being the victim of a leaked sex tape.
You can hear the full interview with Paris Hilton on Magic Radio Breakfast on Tuesday, March 21 from 8 AM.
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