Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981)[1][2] is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. Hilton first attracted tabloid attention in the late 1990s, when she became a fixture in NYC's social scene, and ventured into modeling at age 19, signing with Donald Trump's agency Trump Model Management. After David LaChapelle photographed her and sister Nicky for the September 2000 issue of Vanity Fair, Hilton was proclaimed "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001.[1] The reality television series The Simple Life (2003–2007), in which she starred with her friend Nicole Richie, and a leaked 2003 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris (2004), catapulted her into global fame.Hilton's breakout came in 2003, when she starred with her childhood friend and socialite counterpart Nicole Richie in the Fox reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived for a month with a family in the rural community of Altus, Arkansas. The series premiered on December 2, 2003, shortly after the leak of Hilton's sex tape,[44] and was a ratings success. Its first episode attracted 13 million viewers, increasing Fox's adult 18–49 rating by 79 percent.[45] The high viewership was attributed to the exposure Hilton received for the homemade tape,[46] while she became known for her onscreen dumb blonde persona.[47][48] By 2004, she had taken on a number of supporting and guest-starring roles in films and scripted television series such as Raising Helen and The O.C., released an autobiography co-written by Merle Ginsberg, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose,[49][50] which was seventh on The New York Times Best Seller list,[51] and introduced a lifestyle brand with a purse collection for the Japanese label Samantha Thavasa, a jewelry line sold on Amazon.com[52][53] as well as a perfume line by Parlux Fragrances. Originally planned for a small release, high demand for her first fragrance led to increased availability by December 2004. Its introduction was followed by a 47-percent increase in Parlux sales, primarily of the Hilton-branded perfume.[54] After this success, Parlux has released numerous more perfumes with her name, including fragrances for men.
A polarizing and often derided celebrity, Hilton is credited with influencing the revival of the "famous for being famous" phenomenon throughout the 2000s,[6] and was, for a number of years, one of the world's most ubiquitous public figures. Critics indeed suggest that she exemplifies the celebutante—a household name not through talent or work, but through inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. Forbes included her in its Celebrity 100 in 2004, 2005, and 2006, and ranked her as the most "overexposed" celebrity in 2006 and 2008. Hilton has parlayed her media fame into numerous business endeavours. Under her company, she has produced content for broadcast media, launched a variety of product lines, and opened a chain of self-branded boutiques worldwide as well as an urban beach club in the Philippines. Her perfume line alone has brought in over US$2.5 billion in revenue to date.[7][8][9] Hilton was born on February 17, 1981, in New York City, to Richard Hilton, a businessman, and Kathy Hilton, a socialite and former child actress.[10][11] The oldest of four children, she has one sister, Nicky Hilton (born 1983), and two brothers, Barron Hilton II (born 1989) and Conrad Hughes Hilton (born 1994). Her paternal great-grandfather was Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels, while her maternal aunts are television personalities Kim and Kyle Richards. Hilton has Norwegian, German, Italian, English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.[12][13][14] The family followed the Catholic faith.[15][16]Hilton's breakout came in 2003, when she starred with her childhood friend and socialite counterpart Nicole Richie in the Fox reality series The Simple Life, in which they lived for a month with a family in the rural community of Altus, Arkansas. The series premiered on December 2, 2003, shortly after the leak of Hilton's sex tape,[44] and was a ratings success. Its first episode attracted 13 million viewers, increasing Fox's adult 18–49 rating by 79 percent.[45] The high viewership was attributed to the exposure Hilton received for the homemade tape,[46] while she became known for her onscreen dumb blonde persona.[47][48] By 2004, she had taken on a number of supporting and guest-starring roles in films and scripted television series such as Raising Helen and The O.C., released an autobiography co-written by Merle Ginsberg, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose,[49][50] which was seventh on The New York Times Best Seller list,[51] and introduced a lifestyle brand with a purse collection for the Japanese label Samantha Thavasa, a jewelry line sold on Amazon.com[52][53] as well as a perfume line by Parlux Fragrances. Originally planned for a small release, high demand for her first fragrance led to increased availability by December 2004. Its introduction was followed by a 47-percent increase in Parlux sales, primarily of the Hilton-branded perfume.[54] After this success, Parlux has released numerous more perfumes with her name, including fragrances for men.
Hilton published her debut book, Confessions of an Heiress (2004), which became a New York Times Best Seller, landed her first major film role in the horror remake House of Wax (2005), and released her eponymous debut studio album, Paris (2006), which reached number six on the Billboard 200 and respectively produced the successful single "Stars Are Blind". She has since starred in further films and television series, recorded a line of standalone singles, and performed as a disc jockey.[3] Her media ventures include the reality television series Paris Hilton's My New BFF (2008–2009), The World According to Paris (2011), Hollywood Love Story (2018), Cooking with Paris (2021), and Paris in Love (2021–2022); the documentaries Paris, Not France (2008), The American Meme (2018), and This Is Paris (2020); as well as her podcast, This Is Paris (2021–present), on iHeartRadio.[4][5]In New York City, Hilton had a rebellious youth, regularly skipping classes and sneaking out to parties. On this period, Kathy, who used to contact the New York Post to locate her daughter's whereabouts,[22] remarked: "Let's put it this way —it got very out of control and I was scared for her. And my husband was very scared for her. And, you know, those nightclubs go on all night."[23] Her parents eventually sent her, then 16, to a series of boarding schools for emotionally troubled teens, including Provo Canyon School, where she says that she was mentally and physically abused by the staff. In her documentary This Is Paris, Hilton and other former students from Provo Canyon School recall the abuses they faced, including solitary confinement, forced medication, restraint, battery and strangulation. She attended Provo for 11 months and was released in 1999 when she turned 18.[24][25][26][27] She then attended the Dwight School before dropping out a few months later. "She knew no one at [Dwight]", said her mother in an interview, while a classmate described her as "sort of more sophisticated. She was different from everybody else".[19] She later earned a GED certification.[28][29] With mother Kathy and sister Nicky, Hilton originally modeled as a child at charity events,[30] and made an uncredited appearance in the fantasy film Wishman (1992). After relocating to NYC in 1996, Hilton's growing presence at nightclubs and high-profile events led her to develop a reputation as a socialite. She has recalled getting offers to show up in nightclubs as early as she was 16,[31][32][33] when she obtained a counterfeited identity document in order to gain access to events. Her antics and late-night persona soon started attracting the spotlight from local tabloids. After becoming familiar with Paris and Nicky's social circle, Jason Binn, publisher of Hamptons magazine, stated: "They're little stars. They've become names. To them it's like a job. I believe they wake up every morning and say, 'O.K., where am I supposed to be tonight?'."[34] That lifestyle conflicted with her family's conservative background and proved too "rebellious" for the young Paris, whose parents sent her to a series of boarding schools until she turned 18. Hilton resumed public appearances shortly afterwards, with a New Yorker profile by Bob Morris, published in October 1999, describing her and sister Nicky as "the littlest socialites in town [...] Without even a smile, they can breeze past the velvet ropes at Moomba or get a seat at Le Bilboquet".[35] Businessman George J. Maloof Jr., for instance, flew Hilton in his private jet and paid her to attend, in a dress made from US$1 million in poker chips, the Palms Casino Resort opening in Las Vegas in November.
Hilton moved frequently in her youth, living in Beverly Hills, the Hamptons, and a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. Her relatives have described her as "very much a tomboy" who dreamed about becoming a veterinarian. Her mother recalled her saving money to buy monkeys, snakes, and goats, and once leaving "the snake out the cage [...] at the Waldorf".[17] Hilton was raised in a very "sheltered, conservative" atmosphere; her parents were particularly strict and she was not allowed to date, wear make-up or certain types of clothes, or go to school dances. Her mother enrolled her in etiquette classes with the idea of introducing her as a debutante, which Hilton was at first reluctant to do, as she did not find it to be "real" or "natural". She described it as "very proper, very prim, almost like a Stepford wife".[17] The family's social circle included figures such as Lionel Richie, Donald Trump, and Michael Jackson.[18][19] Growing up in Los Angeles, Hilton attended the Buckley School and St. Paul the Apostle School, finishing elementary school in 1995.[20] Her freshman year of high school (1995–96) was spent at the Marywood-Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage, California. In 1996, Hilton and her family left California for the East Coast.[21] At 15, she attended Professional Children's School.[19] She skated and played ice hockey while in high school.
Inspired by designers Patricia Field and Betsey Johnson, Hilton decided to pursue modeling, signing with Donald Trump's agency, T Management, at age 19.[30] She modeled for Catherine Malandrino and Marc Bouwer, and posed alongside her sister for David LaChapelle[40] in a shoot that was featured in the September 2000 issue of Vanity Fair. On her persona, LaChapelle stated: "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".[41] By 2001, Hilton had become "one of the biggest stars, off and on the catwalk," at New York Fashion Week, graced an advertising campaign for Italian label Iceberg, and appeared on magazines such as Vogue and FHM.[42] In addition to modeling, Hilton ventured into screen acting, playing an ill-fated character in the independent teen thriller Sweetie Pie (2000),[19] and filming a cameo appearance as herself in the comedy Zoolander (2001), with Ben Stiller. In 2002, she appeared in Vincent Gallo's "Honey Bunny" video,[43] played a "strung-out supermodel" in the 5-minute short QIK2JDG, and starred as a socialite in the straight-to-DVD horror film Nine Lives.
