The “New” Paris Hilton — The Lexington Line

Paris Hilton, famous for being famous, is known all over the world for her ‘90s icon status, her catchphrase “that’s hot,” a nasally baby voice, and scandals galore. But her new documentary, “This is Paris,” unveils the persona Paris created and the truth behind the ditzy blonde we’ve come to know. The revelations that many have thought about the Hilton heiress have finally been confirmed: it’s all been an act.

At the start of the YouTube documentary, the nasally Valley Girl voice is used as a voiceover. But then the normal voice cuts in, and the truth is revealed. “Sorry, I’ll just be normal,” admits Paris. “I’m so used to playing a character that it's hard for me to be normal. I always, when a camera turns on, turn into someone else.”

Starting off regaling tales of childhood normalcy to director Alexandra Dean, mother Kathy Hilton and sister Nicky Hilton—both of whom rarely agree to interviews—are also brought it. They recount the tomboyish attitude and upbringing of young Paris and the normalcy of her life that many people don’t see. As her youth is explored, Aunt Kathy Richards somberly states, “I think there was too much focus on how beautiful she was, honestly.”

However, the jet-setting and designer lifestyle that comes with being Paris Hilton is an inevitable part of the film, “That’s all a part of being an influencer; I’ve never been photographed in the same thing twice.” 30 suitcases of clothes for her travels; complaints about wearing ball gowns all day with nothing during the car rides; 250 days out of the year spent abroad; and Paris’ house manager shoving a duffle bag filled to the brim with wads of cash into her hand before she heads off. The most prominent part is Paris' billions of dollars in sales from her 19 product lines and $1 million per DJ gig price tag; Paris has built up a massive empire of businesses around herself.

The world has been fascinated with Paris Hilton since the late ‘90s and early 2000s, and she still is captivating in the present day. Social media strategist Sheeraz Hasan insists, “I built the foundation of one of the biggest paparazzi company’s in the world on the back of Paris Hilton ... For a photo at the time, it could range from $50,000 to $1 million.” Kim Kardashian got her start by being Paris’ assistant, best friend, and being photographed alongside her at the clubs and restaurants of the iconic LA nightlife spots.

But one would most certainly never expect to see the introspection written on Paris’ face when she expresses the pitfalls of being the selfie generation's pioneer. Sheeraz recounts, “It was around 2004 and she was grabbing pictures and taking pictures of herself. I didn’t even know what a selfie was. All the things people are doing today with social media, the first person was Paris Hilton.” Paris reflects, “Everyone says that I’m the original influencer, but sometimes, I feel like I helped create a monster.”

Source: The New York Times; Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton

Take away the glitz and glamour, and there is a dark side—one never shared with her nearly 13 million Instagram followers. Nowhere is it shown amongst the various shades of pinks, rainbows, unicorns, and sparkles. Paris irrefutably has trust issues with people, but specifically men. She is shown installing cameras in her house when her new boyfriend Aleks Novakovic comes for the first time to her Beverly Hills house. Later, she shows a stockpile of new laptops she’s acquired after her past exes demand access to her laptops or take the MacBooks for themselves. Similarly, her new relationship quickly takes a harrowing end.

Admitting later in the documentary that she’s been in multiple abusive relationships, this one ends up no different. Novakovic, too, gets controlling in the middle of Paris’ Belgium Tomorrowland festival debut. As a DJ, Paris says multiple times that it is “the biggest festival of [her] life.” In a scene that is hard to stomach, the once happy-go-lucky boyfriend gets drunk, gaslights Paris, and assaults Paris by forcing her to kiss him. She looks visibly uncomfortable and asks him on multiple occasions to stop. Done with Novakovic’s behavior, Paris does “the meanest thing you can do to someone.” She has her boyfriend’s artist pass wristband cut off, kicks him out from backstage, and the relationship fizzles out from there.

No stranger to bad relationships, Paris was infamously the center of a major scandal involving a sex tape. Just only 18 or 19 and dating an older Rick Salomon, the tape was released in 2003 despite being filmed in 2001. The tape made headline news and the jokes made their rounds to multiple comedians including David Letterman and Joan Rivers. Later in 2004, Salomon distributed the tape himself and titled it 1 Night in Paris and profited off of it. However, times were different then: Harvey Weinstein was the biggest movie producer and #MeToo was another 14 years away. Paris relates the private matter being made public to being “electronically raped” and says she was “pressured into it.” Without a doubt, it is revenge porn.

Perhaps the most shocking revelation was the divulgence that her parents sent Paris to a series of schools for troubled teens. In the end, they unknowingly placed her at the worst of them all, Provo Canyon School. A psychiatric treatment center she stayed in for 11 months, Paris endured prison-like emotional, mental, and physical abuse. She was given mystery pills which she refused to ingest by pretending to take then discarding. As punishment for not taking the pills, Paris was forced to spend time in solitary confinement which she likened to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” In an emotional ending, Paris finally tells her mother of the torture she faced 20 years prior.

That’s not to say that the documentary should absolve Paris of her sins. Despite handing over complete creative control, the documentary lacks addressing some fundamental past problematic comments. Rich Juzwiak recently penned an article on Jezebel, detailing Paris’ history with the n-word and racist comments about Black people. Certainly, a woman with enormous privilege such as herself can’t be given complete blanket immunity for defending Donald Trump against sexual misconduct. But recently, she’s got a change in perspective. “I’m happy that there’s been the #MeToo movement where people have completely changed their views on that,” Ms. Hilton said as quoted in The New York Times. “But at the start, it was just really unfair for a woman to be treated that way because somebody exposed them.” Personal opinions aside, the vulnerable inside look into the heiresses’ life—the good, the bad, and the ugly—is certainly a refreshing acknowledgment that like us, Paris Hilton is human too.