“This is completely different from anything I’ve ever done.” Yes, different than The Bling Ring, House of Wax, The World According to Paris, Paris Hilton’s My New BFF, and the coup de gras of reality TV: The Simple Life, in which heiress and socialite Paris Hilton starred with her one of her former BFFs, Nicole Richie.
Now, we finally get to see the real blonde with the little girl voice in the documentary This Is Paris, which offers a glimpse of not only how she spends her days, but her unfiltered, un-self-conscious, POV. Poor little rich girl? You’ll have to watch and decide for yourself.
10 When, Where
This is Paris, a raw and emotional documentary, is a YouTube Original that will make its Monday, September 14th debut on Hilton’s own YouTube channel. Viewers can stream it for free with ads, but those who choose to sign up for YouTube premium (a 1-month free trial then $11.99 per month) can watch ad-free and have access to the feature’s extended cut.
FYI: The engrossing film is so good that it garnered a place in the prestigious 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, which was canceled due to COVID-19.
9 This Time It’s Really Real
“Everything I’ve ever done before was more of me just playing that character again. But with this, I really just wanted to pull the curtain back and show my real life and talk about things that were very hard to talk about and things that I’ve experienced in that I’ve never talked about before.”
For way too long she played the part of a real-life “Elle Woods,” pretty in pink, with the little dog in tow, and the high-pitched voice of the ditzy blonde trope. It appears we weren’t the only ones bored with all that.
8 It’s A Family Thing
The promo materials state: “Paris speaks publicly for the first time about heartbreaking trauma and pivotal moments in her early life that forged who she is today.”
But the documentary also includes in-depth interviews with Paris’ mother Kathy Hilton (elder sister of Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills cast members Kyle Richards and Kim Richards), as well as Paris’ equally famous socialite sister Nicky Hilton Rothschild, who is also a businesswoman and fashion designer. She and her scion husband James have two daughters, Lily-Grace and Teddy. Paris also has two younger brothers, Barron and Conrad.
7 Teenage Dream Or Nightmare
Sure, she spent her adolescence living large in New York City, sneaking out of her home in the famed Waldorf Astoria hotel, where she partied hard at the hottest downtown nightclubs. But Paris says there was a reason she was so wild: “My parents were so strict that it made me want to rebel.”
To try and keep her in line, they’d ground her, plus take away her cell phone and credit cards. But it was to no avail, so she was shipped off to boarding schools, where, at the last one, she alleges physical, mental, and emotional abuse.
6 She Had PTSD
“I still have nightmares about it.” Former classmates at Provo Canyon corroborate Paris’ allegations, which she did not ever share with her parents, or even her beloved sister/bestie. The school responded: “Originally opened in 1971, Provo Canyon School was sold by its previous ownership in August 2000. We, therefore, cannot comment on the operations or patient experience prior to this time.”
Paris explains: “I’m going to watch the movie with my parents — I think it will be good for us, but emotional too. There are no more secrets. It feels like my nightmare is over.”
5 She Blames Herself
“People thought that that was really who I was. But there is so much more to me and I have a lot more to say. I don’t blame them for having misconceptions because I feel that I created it with that character,” adding, “and I’ve been stuck with her ever since.”
It seems Paris agreed to play the role of the bombshell, bimbo party girl because she didn’t think she’d ever get famous enough for it to matter. “I had no idea that it would turn into something so real.”
4 She Doesn’t Know What Normal Is
“I’m so used to playing a character that it’s hard for me to be normal.” After years of putting on a façade of having a happy, perfect life, she seems to really have to stop and think about who she is and what she wants versus what her alter ego thinks and wants. “I don’t even know who I am sometimes.”
When Nicky asks her if she’s happy, Paris nods her head, yes, but then answers, “Sometimes.” It makes one wonder if she meant when she’s being totally herself or when she’s playing the role she’s grown so comfortable with.
3 Yes, KKW Shows Up
Paris’s former assistant and BFF, Kim Kardashian, who thanked Paris on KUWTK for giving her a career and is now more famous than her mentor, appears in footage from when she used to ride the blonde’s coattails.
While on her promotional tour for This Is Paris, Hilton, who wants to be a mom, revealed that Kim inspired her to freeze her eggs. “She introduced me to her doctor. I think every woman should do it because you can really control it and not have that, ‘Oh my God, I need to get married [feeling].’”
2 The Bombshell Is A Tomboy
“She has this persona that she’s this sexy, you know, bombshell. But she really is, like, a boy at heart,” says Nicky aka “bestie for life,” who reveals along with mom Kathy all the childhood pets Paris owned.
“She would save up her money to buy monkeys, snakes, ferrets, everything,” claims her mother. “Once she let the snake out the cage - at the Waldorf. The little monkey was hanging from the chandelier.” The star of the documentary also owned a goat, which she hid at her grandfather’s house. Paris responded on IG: “I'm still this girl at heart.”
1 Alexandra Dean Directed It
Previously best known for directing Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story for the American Masters documentary TV series, and producing the documentary The Player: Secrets of a Vegas Whale, the filmmaker was instrumental in getting Paris to open up.
“With Alexandra, she opened my eyes and really asked me questions no one’s ever asked before and we became so close where we had this sisterly bond where I felt I could just tell her anything.”