Paris Hilton has always been known for her scandalous party girl antics of the 2000s. For years she has held a reputation for being a rich, spoiled heiress, earning her living for doing nothing. But what if we told you there is more than meets the eye with Paris Hilton? She’s actually a savvy businesswoman with many skills.
The party princess of the 2000s is more than just the girl who coined “That’s hot” as her catchphrase. After turning her media fame into an eponymous brand, she has much more to show the world than skimpy clothes and club appearances. Meet the real Paris Hilton with these facts that will change your opinion of her.
Wealthy From the Day She Was Born
Paris Whitney Hilton was born on February 17, 1981, in New York City. As the child of Richard Hilton, she was born into the world as a hotel heiress. Growing up, her family moved around a lot for her father’s business, and she lived in a suite at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Beverly Hills, Manhattan, and the Hamptons.
The oldest of four siblings, she was a tomboy whose dream was to become a veterinarian. She had a passion for animals from a young age, but her dreams changed over time. Although her younger sister is also a socialite, none of Paris’s siblings were ever in the news as consistently as she was.
Instant Fame but Not How She Expected It
In 2004, Hilton shot to fame when a tape of her and her boyfriend at the time was leaked to the press. The tape was called “1 Night in Paris,” capturing the couple being intimate with each other. Three weeks after the video was leaked, Hilton’s reality show with Nicole Richie − called The Simple Life − premiered on TV.
The show’s first episode had successful ratings and high viewership due to the publicity Hilton got for her tape. Maybe it was a publicity stunt, or the person who leaked it had perfect timing, but they undoubtedly helped the success of the show. While it might have been embarrassing at the time, it helped her get to where she is today.
Troubling School Years
Hilton attended high school for one year at Marywood-Palm Valley in Los Angeles, but after her family moved to the east coast, her parents sent her to Provo Canyon School for emotionally troubled teens. It was here that Hilton’s life really changed. Hilton eventually dropped out and later obtained her GED.
People later found out that Hilton had been keeping a dark secret from her school years. It took her almost 30 years to admit that she suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of the staff from the school. In her documentary This Is Paris, she revealed that she was put into solitary confinement, beaten, and forced to take mystery pills.
She Changed Her Voice for The Simple Life
When Hilton starred in the reality series The Simple Life with Nicole Richie, she decided to create a character. In her documentary, This Is Paris, she revealed that she put on a baby voice and decided to keep it at the height of her popularity because it hid her true self from the public. Hilton created this persona, and it was what the world knew for years.
Until she finally started to feel comfortable with herself late in life, Hilton felt like she was playing a character because the world never truly knew who she was. In an interview, she said, “The real me is someone who is actually brilliant. I’m not a dumb blonde; I’m just really good at pretending to be one.”
Hilton Was the First Influencer
Before anyone could gain a large following on Instagram and call themselves an influencer, Hilton paved the way for everyone who wanted to try their luck with this career. She was an influencer before the occupation had a name. Her YouTube friends always tell her that she was the reason why they wanted to become influencers. It was a much different time without the help of social media to share every aspect of her life.
Hilton had to rely on print, broadcast, and gossip websites to get her name out to the public. She created a brand that was so recognizable a decade before anyone else thought to do the same thing. With a reality show, brand deals, club appearances, and everything else she was doing in the early 2000s, Hilton created a new kind of career for those who would later be known as influencers.
She Considers Herself a Brand
Although Hilton’s natural eye color is brown, for years she wore blue contact lenses. She also dyes her hair a lighter shade of blonde than her natural color because she feels like fans associate her with this iconic look. Hilton considers herself a brand and feels like she has to maintain this image.
She has sometimes changed her hair to a more brownish blonde throughout the years, and she recently tried out darker locks, but she always goes back to her signature light blonde hair. There was also a time where Hilton was known for wearing Juicy Couture sweatsuits, but she has since grown out of that phase and upped her fashion game.
She Made Kim Kardashian Famous
Without Paris Hilton, the world might have never known Kim Kardashian. While Kardashian’s father was famous for his work on the OJ Simpson trial, Kim was just a teenager then. It wasn’t until she became Hilton’s stylist and started being seen out with her that people finally wondered, “Who is Paris Hilton’s friend?”
Kardashian has even said that Hilton helped her become famous. Although the two drifted apart when Kardashian started filming Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the two are great friends again. Kardashian said she would do anything for Hilton and even appeared in Hilton’s most recent music video.
Trying to Become More Than Just a Socialite
When Hilton was a child, she did some modeling work for charity events. However, when she turned 19, she wanted to try to make it in Hollywood for real. Hilton signed up with Donald Trump’s modeling agency, T Management. She walked in New York Fashion Week and modeled for brands like Guess and Christian Dior.
She also acted in her first movie around the same time. Hilton’s first movie was Sweetie Pie, and it featured a cast of other young, privileged, rich kids who have disastrous fates by the end of the film. The movie was a total disaster, and it didn’t help her acting career in any way. HiHH
Best Friend Turned Enemy
As a child, Hilton grew up with many other famous people like Ivanka Trump and Nicole Richie. Hilton and Richie were such great friends that they starred on the reality show The Simple Life together. The two were inseparable as children, and as they got into their teens and early 20s, they were rarely seen without the other.
After the second season of their reality show, Richie and Hilton started to grow apart. It was awkward to watch them on TV together, and they started avoiding each other in public. For years, every tabloid story was about their famous feud. However, as they got older, they reconciled their differences and are friends again, but not as close as they once were.
Is Paris Hilton Married?
Hilton has been linked to many men throughout her life. She has had over 50 boyfriends, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Cristiano Ronaldo, Jared Leto, and Benji Madden. While people thought she would never settle down, Hilton finally found the one. She started dating Carter Reum in 2019 after breaking off her previous engagement. She and Reum met through mutual friends and have a lot in common.
After a few years of dating, Reum proposed to Hilton in February 2021 on a private island for her birthday. While she has never made it down the aisle with someone who has proposed before, it looks like this relationship might be the one that takes her off the market for good. She is not married yet, but that will change soon.
Building Her Empire One Scent at a Time
Hilton began building her empire when after she became famous from her leaked sex tape. She created a fragrance line with Parluz in 2004. It was supposed to be a small release, but there was so much demand that the company had to produce more.
Hilton’s perfume increased the company’s sales by 47 percent. Since the release of her first perfume, she has created 28 fragrances. As the most popular celebrity-endorsed brand of the early 21st century, Hilton’s fragrance lines have been highly successful. She has men’s and women’s scents in her fragrance collection.
High Roller
At the height of her popularity in the mid-2000s, Hilton was seen at many nightclubs to promote them. She got her start appearing at clubs when businessman George R. Maloof Jr. asked her to attend the opening of Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas wearing a dress made of $1 million in Palms playing chips.
Ever since her Palms appearance, Hilton has been making upwards of $200,000 each time she walks the red carpet at a club and stays to party for the night. Her time spent in clubs is probably what got her into DJing. Her appearances include the red carpet, sitting in a VIP section with bottle service, and giving a quick “Hello” over the microphone to everyone in the club who came to see her.
How Much Is Paris Hilton Worth?
While Hilton might be an heiress, there wasn’t much of a fortune for her to inherit. The Hilton fortune is about $4.5 billion, but her grandfather decided to donate 97 percent of it to charity back in 2004. When he passed away, he left three percent of his money to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, which would be $5.6 million for Paris.
There were rumors that she was cut out of the will because her grandfather didn’t appreciate all of her scandals and damage to the Hilton family name. Despite this, with all her businesses, brand deals, and her DJing career, today Hilton is worth an estimated $300 million.
Hilton Won Money From Her Sex Tape Scandal
In 2003, when Hilton’s tape was released, she had a very long and public legal battle. She said it was the most painful experience she ever went through because she lost faith in love, men, and trust. She felt like she would be judged for the rest of her life based on a private moment between two people that no one was supposed to see.
The legal battle and scandal broke Hilton’s heart, but luckily, she got some justice for it. At the end of the court case, Hilton was awarded around $400,000. While this didn’t help her emotional trauma from the experience, it was probably nice to get some kind of justice for what she had been put through.
An Author in the Making
In 2004, Hilton released her first book called “Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Cheek Peek Behind the Pose.” It was an instant New York Times bestseller. She shared an inside look at her life and what it is like to be an heiress. A year later, she came out with a second book titled “Your Heiress Diary: Confess It All to Me.”
Her books have been in print for around 15 years now, so Hilton has likely made a pretty penny from her brief stint as an author. While we don’t see her as the next literary genius, her books give insight into what it was like to be the first influencer.
Singing the Right (Auto) Tune
Hilton has tried many different ventures throughout her career because she is not afraid to put herself out there. In 2006, she released her first album titled Paris, and it got mixed critical reception. However, it was still number six on the Billboard Top 200.
The top single, “Stars Are Blind,” was in the Top 10 in more than 17 countries, but everyone knew her voice was heavily auto tuned. While she might have talents in other categories, like her acting abilities, singing is something Hilton should leave to the professionals.
She Made Millions as a DJ
Although Hilton can’t sing, she is an impressive DJ. After book deals, TV shows, and a pop album, Hilton tested her luck in the DJ scene. In 2012, she made her DJ debut at a pop music festival in Brazil. Her performance was well-received, and she won awards for her performance.
In 2014, Hilton accepted a residency at Harrah’s in Atlantic City and embarked on a 13-show tour later that year. By 2015, she was the world’s highest-paid DJ, making $1 million per set. She also did a historic five-year run in Ibiza. Hilton is having the time of her life with this career path.
An Award That No One Wants to Win
While Hilton has appeared in several movies as a supporting character, the lead, or made cameos as herself, none of them have done very well. The performances were so bad that she was nominated for a Golden Raspberry (Razzle) for “Worst Actress” several times.
Some of Hilton’s movies have also been featured on IMDB’s Bottom 100 Films list. In 2010, Hilton won the Golden Raspberry for “Worst Actress of the Decade,” for House of Wax and The Hottie and the Nottie. Maybe she is someone who believes there is no bad publicity.
Sometimes She Doesn’t Know Who She Is
In the documentary This Is Paris, Hilton’s sister gave the world some insight into who Hilton is behind the persona she put on for many years. Nicky Hilton-Rothschild said she knows her sister the best. According to her, Hilton is addicted to drama, and her sister’s brand is much more glamorous than Hilton’s real personality.
Underneath her well-crafted persona, Hilton has created many layers of protective armor against the world. Hilton is relatively modest but hid her true self from the world because she was hiding the secrets of her past traumas. She has had trouble keeping up the persona all these years. Therefore, when the documentary came out, she felt like she could finally show her authentic self.
Her Love for Dogs Has Always Been Strong
Hilton has always been an animal lover. As a child, she wanted to be a veterinarian, which didn’t work out, but that didn’t stop her from caring for animals. Hilton made it a trend to carry a tiny dog in a handbag. She has had many little pups over the years, the most famous being her late dog Tinker Bell without whom she didn’t go anywhere.
When she is not carrying her dogs around, they are living their best lives sitting in Louis Vuitton trunks, jet-setting across the globe on a private jet or hanging out in the 300 square foot mini-mansion Hilton built for her pets in her backyard. The doghouse cost about $325,000, and it is equipped with air-conditioning, pink walls, and decorated with Phillipe Starck furniture. These dogs have a better life than many humans.
Hilton’s Pets Have Their Own Fan Base
If it isn’t enough that they have their own mini-mansion, Hilton’s pets also have their own Instagram account with 63 thousand followers. Most of the pictures on the account are of her adorable puppies, although her cats occasionally make an appearance. She used to have bunnies and other furry friends, but she doesn’t post about them anymore.
Hilton refers to her pets as her “fur children,” and they are treated like family. If we could be reincarnated as anything, we would want to be one of Hilton’s many dogs because they live a life of luxury that everyone dreams of. Her dogs also have more fans than most small influencers, and they don’t even know how to use Instagram.
She Has a Large Korean Fanbase
To many people’s surprise, Hilton has a vast fanbase in South Korea. In 2012, she appeared in a music video for a song by Kim Jang Hoon, a Korean pop star. The video earned around $1 million, which was nice because it only took two days to film. People fell in love with her because of this video.
In 2019, Hilton launched her skincare brand, ProD.N.A, in South Korea because she wanted to get into the Korean beauty market. They always have the most innovative skincare, so Hilton thought it would be the best market to launch her line. It turned out to be quite successful.
A Gay Icon Caught Up in Controversy
Hilton has been considered a gay icon for many years, and her fans from the LGBTQ+ community have always been grateful for her support. However, in 2012, she received backlash when an audio recording of her making derogatory remarks about the community leaked. Hilton immediately apologized through GLAAD.
Hilton considers the LGBTQ+ community the strongest and most inspiring group of people. Although she apologized, Logo TV canceled plans of airing her documentary. Despite all this, Hilton was featured on the cover of Gay Times as an ally who uses her platform to advocate for minority groups.
She Is Self-Conscious of Her Feet
Hilton seems like one of the most confident women in the world because of the way she has always carried herself in whatever she is wearing. She looks fantastic, and she knows it. However, one thing about her body has always made her self-conscious, so she tries to hide it.
She wears a size 11 shoe, which is the one thing Hilton would change about her body. Hilton feels like she can only wear high heels because she says her feet look like canoes in sneakers or flats. Plenty of people have large feet, so she shouldn’t be embarrassed about this.
“That’s Hot”
One of Hilton’s most iconic catchphrases is “That’s hot.” She began using the phrase in the early 2000s because there were shirts that said “That’s hot” on the front and “You’re not” on the back. She also said her sister was the one who used to say it all the time, but Hilton was the one who trademarked it.
Another one of her phrases was “sliving” (a combination of “slaying” and “living”). The term became famous after she started using it on The Simple Life. In 2007, Hallmark sold a card with Hilton’s face and the slogan “That’s hot,” so she sued them and won the court case.
She Isn’t the Only Famous Family Member
If you are a fan of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, you might know that Hilton’s aunts, Kyle and Kim Richards, are on the series. Kim Richards became famous as a child for her role in Return to Witch Mountain, and Kyle Richards was also a child actress.
Hilton has also made appearances on RHOBH when her sister, Nicky, did a book signing at Kyle Richards’s clothing store. Hilton is also related to Elizabeth Taylor and Zsa Zsa Gabor by marriage, which might be why she had the acting bug.
There Is One Type of Modeling She Will Never Do
Although Hilton shot to fame after her personal tape leaked to the public, she refuses to pose nude. You will never find a magazine spread with Hilton bearing it all because she wants to be taken seriously. She also said she would never do a nude scene in a movie even though directors expect her to strip.
Hilton would get upset when she was asked about the tape because she has always tried to focus on other ventures. She wanted to move on from that point in her life because it was so embarrassing. Posing nude would only remind people of the tape and cause them to ask about it again.
How Old Is Paris Hilton?
Hilton might not look a day over 30, but the DJ/influencer/heiress is actually 40 years old. She turned 40 in February, and she believes age is just a number because she definitely doesn’t feel like she is 40 years old. Hilton was just 23 when The Simple Life premiered, so she has been the talk of the town for almost two decades.
Hilton has never admitted to getting plastic surgery, and she credits her youthful look to staying out of the sun and using her own skincare line. She is very proud to be all-natural. However, her biggest secret is that she has been using La Mer skin cream (which retails at $175 per bottle) since she was eight years old.
Trouble With the Law
Hilton has been in trouble with the law many times. The only good thing to come out of her arrests were her iconic mugshots. Hilton was first arrested in 2006 when she was found driving under the influence. The police suspended Hilton’s license, but she continued to drive and was pulled over for using an invalid license.
A few years later, in 2010, Hilton was arrested again. She was in Las Vegas when the police charged her for possession of marijuana and cocaine. Hilton pled guilty to drug possession and obstructing an officer but never served jail time. Instead, she had to do community service and a year of probation.
Bling Ring Theft
You might remember the popular movie called The Bling Ring based on an actual string of crimes in L.A. The Bling Ring consisted of five teens who stole roughly $3 million in cash and other belongings from Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, Audrina Patridge, and Hilton. She was a repeated target of the group of thieves.
Hilton said they came to her home eight times and took as much as they could fit in their arms. She said they stole Birkin bags, all of her iconic Dior bags, Louis Vuitton, and more. Hilton was heartbroken because she can never replace that stuff. Now she keeps most of her irreplaceable stuff in storge for when she has daughters one day.
Fair Share of Stalkers
There is no denying how famous Hilton is, and this has been a gift and a curse. Scarily, Hilton has had some crazy stalker experiences. Someone once hacked her credit cards and emails, which was a massive violation of privacy, and personal information was stolen.
A drunk man was standing outside her gate on another occasion, but luckily, he couldn’t get inside. Another fan flew a plane over Malibu with banners declaring his love for Hilton. The worst incident of all was when a man was outside her home with knives. Thankfully, he couldn’t get past her security.
Hilton Exposed Again
In 2007, Hilton was subjected to yet another violation of privacy when the website ParisExposed.com launched. The site had personal photos, videos, diaries, and other belongings once kept in a storage unit. When the site went live, the people behind it claimed Hilton neglected to pay the storage facility, so the unit’s contents were auctioned off.
The site’s visitors could pay $39.97 to view Hilton’s passport, medical records, and other legal documents. Hilton filed a lawsuit claiming she put her belongings in the storage when she and her sister moved because their home was burglarized. Apparently, the moving company was supposed to pay the storage fees. Hilton later shut down the site, even though it had millions of hits in a few days.
Japan Denied Her Entry
In 2010, Hilton wasn’t on the best path, and she got caught up in illegal activity. The heiress was caught with cocaine, pled guilty, and received one year of probation. However, the nightmare wasn’t over. As Hilton and her sister, Nicky, were set to travel to Japan, their plans were halted.
Authorities stopped Hilton and Nicky at Narita airport in Japan because of the conviction and refused to allow them to enter the country. They had to spend the night in the airport and return to the U.S. on the next flight. The media had a field day with this story.
Car Connoisseur
Besides her other interests, Hilton is obsessed with cars. You might think she wouldn’t be into that sort of thing, but she has many supercars and luxury cars in her garage. Her favorite supercar is the Lexus LFA. It goes zero to 60 in 3.6 seconds and costs upwards of $375,000.
Hilton’s car collection also includes a pink Bentley Continental GT, a McLaren Spider, a Rolls Royce Ghost, and a Range Rover, to name a few. Her entire car collection costs millions, and she loves to drive around town in her luxury vehicles. However, she also owns a GMC Yukon Hybrid. Maybe that is the car she uses to avoid paparazzi.
She Has a Total of Five iPhones
Most people know that Hilton is a busy woman, but even the busiest people can manage on just one phone, right? Not Hilton. She has five iPhones for different things like posting on Instagram or scrolling through articles about herself. In an interview, Hilton said she has so many devices so she can conveniently lose them when she doesn’t want someone to contact her.
She must have a use for each one because why else would someone need five separate phones. While that seems costly and ineffective, Hilton doesn’t need to worry about the price of her phone bill. We wonder if she ever forgets the passwords because she has so many or if they all have the same password.
Hilton Basically Invented the Selfie
“If a beeper had a camera, I would have taken a selfie with it.” Hilton was the modern matriarch of taking selfies. She even claims that she has a selfie from when she was a child with a disposable camera. Hilton tweeted that she and Britney Spears invented the selfie in 2006.
Although it depends on how you define the word “selfie,” we want to give her credit for this because we would not have taken selfies with our flip phones if Hilton hadn’t made it a trend. The actual inventor of the selfie is thought to be Robert Cornelius in 1839, but we are going to overlook that fact in favor of what Hilton thinks.
Hilton Is Obsessed With “For Dummies” Books
While Hilton was putting on the “dumb blonde” persona for the world, she was actually taking the time to learn about specific topics with the help of the “For Dummies” book series. She has the nutrition, Pilates, poker, and Bible editions on her bookshelf, which means she is very well-rounded.
She could probably write one of these books about becoming an influencer or social media because Hilton is a pro. We wonder what “For Dummies” books she will pick up next. It must be hard to find time to read with all her travel obligations for DJing events and vacation plans.
She Watches The Simple Life Reruns
Although it was a much different time in her life, Hilton occasionally watches The Simple Life reruns when they are on TV. Hilton said, “I laugh so hard that I cry.” The series premiere had over 13 million viewers. That is more than the highest ratings of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Hills combined.
We can imagine that it must be slightly weird for Hilton to watch herself from almost 20 years ago. She was acting less intelligently, and it was her first time doing any kind of blue-collar work, so she must cringe at the way she acted and what she said.
Hilton Has Big Goals for the Future
Hilton said that in the next decade, she wants to get married (obviously), have a few kids, 20 dogs, and 50 fragrances. She recently started to go through IVF to freeze her eggs, so she doesn’t have to have children right after she and her fiancé get married.
She also plans to follow in her family’s footsteps by dipping her toes into the hotel business. Hilton has plans for properties in Dubai, New York, and Los Angeles. We are sure she will eventually write another book about being a lady boss and building a massive empire.