How Paris Hilton shed her ‘dumb blonde’ image & overcame sex tape scandal to become a billionaire as hit TV show returns
TWO decades on from the devastating leak of a private sex tape, Paris Hilton is out to prove her critics all wrong.
The heiress and model was often dismissed as a “dumb blonde” due to the act she put on in her hit fly-on-the-wall TV show The Simple Life.
From not knowing people do their own laundry, or not knowing her right from her left, Paris and her socialite pal Nicole Richie were a constant source of entertainment.
But when the reality show returns after 16 years away, Paris will be a different person.
These days, the 43-year-old is the billionaire head of her own hugely successful company.
On top of that, Paris has settled down as a married mother of two young children.
Motherhood, though, has not dampened the entrepreneur’s ambitions.
She is back in the album charts with new record Infinite Icon, is releasing a new handbag line, and juice drink, and her shocking memoir is being turned into a TV series.
Appearing US telly, on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Paris added: “The past couple of weeks I’ve been doing a bunch of rehearsals with my choreographer and dancers, so we are gearing up for the tour.
“BBA stands for Bad Bitch Academy. It’s my new song. I wanted to make the ultimate bad-bitch anthem.”
Paris also signed up to lingerie firm Agent Provocateur’s 30th anniversary campaign almost a quarter of a century after she opened its flagship store on Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles in 2000.
And these days when she appears without her clothes it is on her own terms — as a new topless shoot for the magazine Nylon proves.
In one photo, a pair of strategically placed ice creams cover her breasts and in another she lays on the bonnet of a red sports car.
And while she is still seen out at glitzy red-carpet events in dazzling dresses, Paris also has a serious side.
Her charity 11:11 Media Impact is fighting for the rights of young people abused in the public and private welfare systems.
She tells Nylon: “People don’t see me as that dumb blonde character any more. They see me as a human being with feelings — real and vulnerable and honest.”
Even before the launch of The Simple Life, in 2003, Paris was developing an image as one of America’s most notorious party animals.
She had appeared in Vogue magazine and had a cameo in 2001 fashion satire movie Zoolander.
A red carpet event was always sure to be livelier with Paris strutting her stuff in some racy outfit.
When she was asked to star on The Simple Life, producers told her: “We want you to play up this ditzy air-head character.” It was an act she also had to keep up in public, putting on a girlish voice on talkshows. Paris says of The Simple Life: “I didn’t realise it would be such a huge success and that we’d have to continue on for five seasons.”
One of her former boyfriends, poker player Rick Salomon, appeared to cash in on her fame by releasing a video in June 2004 titled One Night In Paris, which showed him having sex with the TV star.
Paris has always maintained that it was a private tape, and took legal action over its release.
She kept up the bubblegum pop ersona on her debut album Paris, which included the top five hit Stars Are Blind, and in movies such as National Lampoon’s Pledge This!
But it became clear that fame wasn’t making her happy.
In 2006 she was convicted for drink-driving and four years later Paris did a spell in rehab after cocaine was found in her handbag by police officers.
Happier place
The root of her turmoil became clear last year when she released her 2023 autobiography entitled simply Paris: The Memoir.
She revealed she had been raped at age 15, pursued by now disgraced former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and force-fed medication at terrifying bootcamps between the ages of 16 and 18.
She said at the time: “I think I’ve just been through so many things that I’m a warrior, I’m a fighter, I’m brave. And I’m a badass.”
Hollywood actress sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning have bought up rights to produce a TV series based on the book.
Since she told the world about her shocking treatment at the youth camps, where she was held against her will, other survivors have come forward with similar stories.
That emboldened Paris to launch not-for-profit initiative 11:11 Media Impact, highlighting abuse faced by teenagers in the States.
Her campaigning work has already helped to put pressure on some US states to reform their youth treatment facilities.
She said: “Everything happens for a reason. Maybe I had to go through that and maybe I was given this gift so I could use my voice and make a difference, to stop it from happening to other children.
Everything happens for a reason. Maybe I had to go through that and maybe I was given this gift so I could use my voice and make a difference, to stop it from happening to other children
Paris Hilton
“In a way, this is my mission in life now, and it’s the thing that has the most meaning because I am making an impact.”
The music industry is certainly taking Paris much more seriously.
Infinite Icon is only her second album but its style is more up to date than her debut was.
Paris has won a reputation as a highly respected DJ, earning hundreds of thousands for gigs.
That is reflected in the acts collaborating with her on her latest album.
They include of-the-moment acts Rina Sawayama, Sia and Megan Thee Stallion.
Paris says: “My first album was very much on just how my life was at that point. It was my party-girl era. The songs are just very carefree and fun, all about going out looking hot and having a great time.”
But she says of her latest album: “This definitely has a lot more deeper meaning, and I just wanted the songs to really reflect on my life and my journey and be introspective.”
But that is not to say that Paris is now any less of an It Girl than she was back in the day.
Eighteen years on from her debut album, she does not appear to have aged a bit.
In the music video for her track I’m Free, she sports an assortment of revealing outfits — including a bottomless black-leather one and another with a metal plate in the shape of a love heart to cover her most intimate region.
The lyrics to that track include the line: “There’s nothing in the world that could bring me down.”
Certainly, Paris now seems to be in a happier place than ever before.
She married American venture capitalist Carter Reum, 43, in 2021 following a string of high-profile failed relationships, including with Hollywood playboy Leonardo DiCaprio and Backstreet Boy alum Nick Carter.
We wanted our babies to be safe, and I’m grateful to the surrogates for making my dreams come true because I’ve always wanted to be a mother
Paris Hilton
Paris said: “I had never let anyone into my heart because I had been through so much pain that I just had a huge wall around it.
“Right away, when I met Carter, that wall just came crashing down.”
The other big change that Paris felt she needed to make, for her life to feel complete, was to become a mother.
That looked like it was going to be impossible after several attempts at IVF treatment failed.
But in January last year, her and Carter’s son Phoenix was born via a surrogate mother and in November 2023 their daughter London followed him into the world the same way.
Paris said: “We wanted our babies to be safe, and I’m grateful to the surrogates for making my dreams come true because I’ve always wanted to be a mother.”